[CES 2024] Hyundai Motor eyes hydrogen, software this year

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[CES 2024] Hyundai Motor eyes hydrogen, software this year

Published: 09 Jan. 2024, 08:53 Updated: 09 Jan. 2024, 18:47

SARAH CHEA
[email protected]

Hyundai Motor CEO Jay Chang, center, and Kim Chang-hwan, right, head of hydrogen fuel cell and battery development, talk during a presentation at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas ahead of CES 2024, which kicks off on Tuesday. [HYUNDAI MOTOR]

LAS VEGAS — Hyundai Motor is back at CES after two years, with a gentle reminder: It has not given up on hydrogen.

The company intends to become a hydrogen producer, expanding its business from cars to energy, according to its presentation in Las Vegas ahead of CES 2024, which opens to the public on Tuesday.

The announcement is surprising, as after the company postponed the launch of its hydrogen-powered Nexo SUV last year and indefinitely paused its Genesis fuel cell car, many assumed that it was pulling out of the hydrogen business.

“Producing energy is essential,” Hyundai Motor CEO Chang Jae-hoon. “Tesla is doing the Supercharger charging business. We all should think of why automakers must do energy business at the same time.”

Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Euisun Chung answers to the press at the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas ahead of the CES 2024 that kicks off on Tuesday. [HYUNDAI MOTOR]

The Korean automaker also unveiled an HTWO grid, a dedicated hydrogen fuel cell system brand, where it secures the whole hydrogen value chain: Production, storage, transportation and utilization.

Hyundai aims to produce some 3 million tons of hydrogen per year by 2035. Its hydrogen energy won't just go to cars, but also to trains, ships, power generators, construction, steelmaking, robotics, air mobility and manufacturing itself.

Hyundai said it will introduce a face-lift Nexo SUV within the next year.

The company also said it is developing megawatt-scale polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) electrolyzer manufacturing capacities for green hydrogen production. Green hydrogen, which uses renewable energy such as solar and wind for production, would be the ultimate environmentally friendly option. But due to technological and geographical limits, producing enough green hydrogen to meet demand is currently impossible, especially in Korea.

Hyundai is also focusing on “resource circulation hydrogen production technology” that aims to shift environmental pollutants into clean energy. Hyundai is focused on waste-to-hydrogen (W2H) and plastic-to-hydrogen (P2H) approaches. W2H involves the fermentation of organic waste such as food, sludge and livestock, while P2H involves meting waste plastics.

Hyundai Motor CEO Jay Chang talks during a press conference in Las Vegas on Monday [HYUNDAI MOTOR]

“It’s right for us to prepare for the hydrogen [era], not for our generation, but for the next generation,” Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Euisun Chung said after the presentation.

Hyundai is currently involved in the NorCAL ZERO project in Northern California, which involves 30 Hyundai XCIENT Fuel Cell trucks to support the decarbonization of the Port of Oakland.

The company will also play a part in the “Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs” program, part of a $7 billion U.S. government initiative for hydrogen infrastructure development.

Hyundai launched the world’s first mass-produced hydrogen vehicle, the ix35, in 2013. It is currently the No. 1 hydrogen carmaker in the world with around a 38 percent market share.

The company aims to be using 100 percent renewable energy at its overseas factories by 2045 and in all of its facilities by 2050, as part of its journey to carbon neutrality.

42dot CEO Song Chang-hyun talks during a presentation at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas ahead of CES 2024, which kicks off on Tuesday. [HYUNDAI MOTOR]

The carmaker also pledged to advance its shift to software-defined vehicles, or what the industry calls “smartphones on wheels,” to maximize customers' safety and convenience.

SDVs are equipped with an over-the-air (OTA) system that can update cars' software with the latest features over time.

“As a mobility solution provider, our vision goes beyond vehicles,” said Song Chang-hyun, head of Hyundai Motor Group’s SDV Division and CEO of 42dot. “It's about empowering a mobility ecosystem. We see movement as a new source of knowledge and innovation and our solutions and devices make that knowledge universally useful.”

Hyundai will have its own 2,006-square-meter booth at CES 2024. The exhibition features three large-scale future mobility exhibits and Boston Dynamics’ Stretch robots, highlighting how customer experiences will change based on hydrogen, software and robotics technologies.

BY SARAH CHEA [[email protected]]