Hyundai's Xcient fuel-cell trucks surpass 10 million kilometers in Switzerland

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Hyundai's Xcient fuel-cell trucks surpass 10 million kilometers in Switzerland

Published: 12 Jun. 2024, 16:04

SARAH CHEA
chea.sarah@joongang.co.kr

Xcient fuel-cell hydrogen trucks [HYUNDAI MOTOR]

Hyundai Motor's 48 Xcient fuel-cell trucks have exceeded a cumulative driving distance of 10 million kilometers (6.2 million miles) in Switzerland in three years and eight months since the hydrogen truck began fleet operations, the carmaker said Wednesday.

The usage of Xcient hydrogen trucks, which emit only water while driving, produced zero carbon emissions. Diesel trucks driving the same distance would be expected to emit 6,300 tons of carbon emissions, according to the company.

The impact is equivalent to that of planting 700,000 pine tries, Hyundai said.

Xcient fuel-cell hydrogen trucks [HYUNDAI MOTOR]

Xcient truck, the world's first mass-produced fuel cell-powered vehicle, is powered by two 90 kilowatt fuel cell systems and a 350 kilowatt electric motor. It can travel up to 400 kilometers per single charge.

“All Xcient fuel cell trucks operating in Switzerland use only green hydrogen, which produces no carbon during the production process, contributing to the creation of an eco-friendly hydrogen value chain in Europe,” Hyundai said in a statement.

Xicent trucks operate in a total of 10 countries so far including Korea, Switzerland, the United States, Germany, Saudi Arabia and the Netherlands.

Last year, Hyundai delivered 30 Xcient trucks to California as part of the state's NorCAL ZERO Project, focused on bringing zero-emissions freight transportation to the San Francisco Bay Area and Central Valley.

The deployed trucks comes with 180 kilowatt hydrogen system that can run more than 730 kilometers per single charge.

During CES 2024 in Las Vegas in early January, Hyundai Motor unveiled its HTWO grid, a dedicated hydrogen business brand that secures the whole hydrogen value chain — production, storage, transportation and utilization. Hyundai aims to off-take some 3 million tons of hydrogen annually by 2035.

“Hyundai's every technological step is to make human lives richer,” Hyundai Motor CEO Chang Jae-hoon said during a speech at CES 2024. “We will advance the hydrogen society where clean hydrogen could be used and utilized as an energy source for everything and for everyone.”

BY SARAH CHEA [chea.sarah@joongang.co.kr]