Hydrogen drive: Hyundai brings the fuel cell car into series production

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Hyundai is bringing the fuel cell car into series production

Hydrogen drive: Hyundai brings the fuel cell car into series production-hyundai

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Hyundai is pushing ahead with fuel cells and is the first manufacturer to bring the new drive technology into series production: the Koreans want to put 1,000 cars on the road by 2015….

Source: Hyundai

Hydrogen drive: Hyundai brings the fuel cell car into series production-fuel

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They have chosen the ix35 off-road vehicle as the technical basis,…

Source: Hyundai

Hydrogen drive: Hyundai brings the fuel cell car into series production-fuel

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…which can only be seen from the outside through a few colorful stickers…

Source: Hyundai

Hydrogen drive: Hyundai brings the fuel cell car into series production-hydrogen

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… and differentiated inside from the conventional model by modified instruments and some additional graphics in the on-board monitor.

Source: Hyundai

Hydrogen drive: Hyundai brings the fuel cell car into series production-hyundai

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But the innards are completely new: there are two hydrogen tanks under the floor of the car in the rear…

Source: Hyundai

Hydrogen drive: Hyundai brings the fuel cell car into series production-fuel

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… and at the front under the hood the actual fuel cell, which splits the noble gas on special membranes and converts its energy into electricity. While only no…When water vapor whispers, the current flows into a lithium polymer battery and from there into an electric motor with 136 hp.

Source: Hyundai

Hydrogen drive: Hyundai brings the fuel cell car into series production-drive

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You notice the difference to a conventional electric vehicle after the first 100 kilometers at the latest. Because where the battery in a Stromer slowly runs out …and if you scared at the range display, the fuel gauge on the ix35 has barely moved.

Source: Hyundai

Hydrogen drive: Hyundai brings the fuel cell car into series production-brings

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No wonder: the almost six kilos of hydrogen in the underbody are enough for almost 600 kilometers.

Source: Hyundai

With the launch of the ix35 FuelCell, Hyundai drove the rivals Mercedes and Toyota to the cart. The eco-car is due to start in 2015. However, there is still one catch: the price.

E.First they annoy VW boss Martin Winterkorn with their outstanding quality (“There is nothing rattling”), then they press regular players like Renault, Ford or Opel with their steadily increasing registration numbers, and now they are also duping the researchers and developers from Mercedes or Toyota.

Because while the Germans and Japanese are still adamant about the market launch of the fuel cell, Hyundai is now nailing its heads and is actually the first manufacturer in the world to bring eco-technology into series production: From this summer, the Koreans will be delivering the ix35 FuelCell, which runs on hydrogen instead of gasoline or diesel is operated and the only exhaust gas emits a few clouds of water vapor.

With this, Hyundai is gallantly overtaking the high-tech elite of the carmaker, which has supposedly been technically ready for years, but has so far been reluctant to sell because of the high costs. It was not until the spring that Mercedes, Ford and Renault-Nissan concluded another research alliance in order to jointly reduce costs and finally start the series – but only in 2017 instead of summer 2013.

Hardly any differences from the outside

The car, with which the Koreans want to drive away from the competition once again, is indistinguishable from a normal ix35 at first glance. On the outside only a few colorful stickers and inside the large tank bladder under the trunk floor, the few additional cables under the bonnet and the new instruments on board, testify to the technology of the future.

The driving itself is completely unspectacular and just as you know it from every electric car: Quiet, with a strong acceleration and a bit tough at a higher speed. No wonder: After all, the ix35 is basically nothing more than a Stromer that does not draw its energy from the battery, but produces it itself with its own power plant on board.

To do this, the hydrogen in the fuel cell reacts on special membranes and is chemically broken down there in such a way that electrical energy flows off on the one hand and nothing but water vapor on the other. So that the system does not need a long lead time and the iX35 is immediately ready to go, this electrical energy is buffered in a lithium polymer battery, which is used by the 136 hp electric motor on the front axle.

600 kilometers range

For the driver, the only real differences to an e-car are therefore its suitability for everyday use: instead of around 100, the ix35 has a range of almost 600 kilometers. And where a classic Stromer has to be plugged into the socket for several hours, the ix35 can be refueled in a few minutes – if you can find one of the few hydrogen filling stations. There, however, you have to dig a little deeper into your pockets than for electricity. "But at a kilo price of around eight euros, hydrogen is still cheaper than gasoline or diesel, and a full tank doesn’t cost 50 euros," says product manager Christian Loer.

With their commitment to fuel cells, the Koreans are already going a little further than Mercedes and their colleagues. But the matter of the start of series production is not that honest. Because the number of units up to 2015 is limited to 1000 vehicles, and the car does not appear in the normal price list.

"For the time being, we only have the fuel cell as a leasing model for fleet customers at companies and authorities," admits Loer and sees customers primarily in Scandinavia. Hyundai has already delivered 15 cars to Copenhagen, and it will continue soon in Sweden and Norway. "But the first negotiations are also underway in Germany," says the Hyundai man. What he doesn’t say is how much the pilot customers will have to pay for the future technology.

The technology is worth over 100,000 euros

But there can be no question of market prices because the complex technology is likely to drive the value of the car to more than 100,000 euros. Hyundai is still keeping prices artificially low because it is about developing the market and establishing the drive. "We are far from thinking about making money," says Loer.

On the one hand, the Koreans want to convince customers that the technology is suitable for everyday use. And on the other hand, they want to put pressure on politics, industry and society so that the necessary infrastructure for gas as a fuel is finally created. "With less than 100 filling stations in Europe, we are still a long way from that".

Only when this succeeds and prices fall at the same time as the number of units, Hyundai also sees real opportunities for the fuel cell and then wants to make the technology available to private customers as well. From 2015, the Koreans expect significantly larger quantities, says Loer: "We consider up to 10,000 fuel cell vehicles to be realistic."

The trip to the presentation of the ix35 FuelCell was supported by Hyundai. You can find our standards of transparency and journalistic independence at www.axelspringer.de/unabhaengigkeit

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