Hyundai Hydrogen Mobility celebrates 5 years of pioneering work – with great potential for the future
Exactly 5 years ago, on 20 June 2019, the Hyundai Company from Korea and the Swiss company H2 Energy founded Hyundai Hydrogen Mobility AG (HHM), based in Zurich. The aim of the joint venture: The decarbonisation of heavy transport with zero-emission hydrogen trucks, coupled with a hydrogen ecosystem. What followed is a start-up and pioneering story straight out of a picture book. Hyundai handed over the keys of the first XCIENT Fuel Cell to the first customers in Switzerland on 20 October 2020. On 1 June 2022, Hyundai Hydrogen Mobility Germany GmbH, based in Munich, was founded.
Beat Hirschi, CEO of Hyundai Hydrogen Mobility AG, takes stock after 5 years, with a clear statement for the future: “A look at the past 5 years shows one thing above all: we have delivered. We offer the first and only series-produced fuel cell truck on the market that can also be driven on the road and has proven itself in everyday use. We and, more importantly, our customers have proven this with the more than 10 million kilometres driven in Switzerland alone. Both companies in our joint venture – the Hyundai Motor Company and H2 Energy AG – confirm that this is just the beginning and that we are continuing to invest in the European market. All the more significant was and is the pioneering work that we were and are able to do in Switzerland, with Swiss transport companies and major distributors, with the operators of the filling stations, with the service centres, with the H2 Mobility Switzerland Association and with our team. I would like to thank them all for the energy and investment with which they are supporting and backing the project. Our common goal is clear: we are committed to a better tomorrow, to heavy goods transport with the least possible impact on the environment and the climate.”
The development of hydrogen trucks has not stopped in these first 5 years. Today, Hyundai offers the XCIENT Fuel Cell with a total towing weight of 36 tonnes as a 4×2 version with dry cases or refrigerated cases. For the European market – initially focussing on Germany – Hyundai launched the XCIENT Fuel Cell as a 4×2 and 6×2 chassis. The latter benefits from a liftable and steerable rear axle with a total weight of 42 tonnes.
Charles Cambournac, Managing Director of Hyundai Hydrogen Mobility Germany GmbH: “There are now more than a hundred XCIENT Fuel Cells on the roads of Europe. In Germany alone, we have now certified 15 aftersales partners, with more than 70 employees trained in battery and fuel cell technology. And the market launch is also underway in France. Scaling is running in parallel with the expansion of the filling station network. And we can see that customers recognise the potential. They confirm the advantages of the short refuelling time and the long range – two factors that bring our solution closer to the known values of diesel than all alternatives. But we are operating in a very competitive market throughout Europe and in a sector that works with extremely tight margins. We are therefore all the more dependent on this convincing technology being incorporated into political decisions. The big advantage: we are already proving today that emission-free heavy goods transport is possible and feasible.”
Contact for further inquiries
Hyundai Hydrogen Mobility AG:
Beat Hirschi
+41 79 686 27 57
Beat.Hirschi@hyundaihm.com
Hyundai Hydrogen Mobility Germany GmbH:
Charles Cambournac
+49 176 1448 2050
