Hyundai's Hydrogen Trucks Ready to Hit Roads in Switzerl

Hyundai’s hydrogen-powered trucks are set to hit the roads in Switzerland next month as the South Korean automaker looks to establish a case for its zero-emissions technology in a low carbon world.

Hyundai Hydrogen Mobility AG (HHM), a leasing unit set up by Hyundai and Swiss startup H2 Energy, has partnered with Hydrospider, a joint venture of H2 Energy with industrial gas maker Linde and Swiss power utility Alpiq.

HHM is cooperating with Auto AG Truck, headquartered in Rothenburg, Switzerland, to establish the flagship store and the Swiss service organisation.

The first Xcient fuel cell truck has arrived in Switzerland and will be used to establish the hydrogen cycle.

HHM is starting out with 50 H2 Xcient trucks but plans to put 1,600 on Swiss roads by 2025 and is looking to launch similar projects in at least two more European countries this year, out of Austria, Germany, the Netherlands or Norway.

The hydrogen supply in Switzerland will be handled by HydroSpider, a joint venture of Alpiq, H2 Energy and Linde, which was founded specifically for this purpose.

Hydrospider is about to start producing hydrogen for 40-50 Hyundai trucks at a 2 megawatt (MW) electrolysis plant at Goesgen. The company says that as more H2 trucks go into service it would have to boost capacity to 70 MW to 100 MW by 2023-2025.

The Swiss H2 Mobility Association - a group of nearly 20 firms - will be the first truck users.

Hydrogen fuel cells first lost out to combustion engines and now trail electric batteries in the push for greener transport because they are expensive, hydrogen is hard to store, and most of it is extracted from natural gas in a process that produces carbon emissions. But when it comes to trucks, Hyundai and its partners argue that electric batteries won’t always do the job because the bigger the payload, the heavier the battery.

Hyundai’s H2 Xcient trucks have a 190 kilowatt fuel cell and seven high-pressure tanks holding nearly 35 kg of hydrogen, giving them a range of more than 400 km - far further than heavy goods vehicles powered by electric batteries on the market now.