A report by foreign media on December 28 gave a blow to Hyundai, which is determined to make some achievements in the field of hydrogen fuel cells.
According to the report on the same day, Hyundai decided after an internal audit that the progress of fuel cell research and development was far below the original target, so it suspended the hydrogen vehicle project Genesis, which was originally scheduled to be listed in 2025. Hyundai Motor Group has significantly reduced the status of its fuel cell division in organizational restructuring and personnel appointments after the completion of the internal audit, the report said.
"this is not true. The report is wrong." After the release of the above report, the relevant responsible person of modern China immediately made clear his attitude to the reporter of the Financial Associated Press.
Subsequently, Hyundai China replied after confirming with the headquarters that "Hyundai did set targets for the cost and efficiency of hydrogen energy, but it did find problems in the actual development process." However, this does not mean that Hyundai has interrupted project research and development and reduced the status of the fuel cell research and development department in the company. On the contrary, Hyundai president-level executives are personally in charge of fuel cell research and development, which shows that Hyundai attaches great importance to the future of fuel cell business. "
The Genesis mentioned in the above report is a luxury brand of Hyundai. The Genesis GV80 fuel cell concept utility vehicle was unveiled for the first time at the 2017 New York Auto Show. According to the plan, the Genesis fuel cell project will be launched in 2025.
In September, Hyundai launched a third-generation fuel cell system under development. Compared with the second-generation fuel cells used in the fuel cell passenger car Nexo, the volume of the third-generation fuel cell system has been reduced by 30%, and the output and durability have been increased by 2-3 times. Its core task is to reduce production costs. Hyundai plans to cut the price of fuel cell cars by more than 50 per cent by 2025 from the current 30 million won (161100 yuan).
However, Hyundai's internal review found that the plan to reduce the unit price of fuel cell production was unrealistic, according to the report. "Genesis hydrogen vehicles have been under development for about a year, with the goal of a four-year development period, but have been halted due to problems with third-generation fuels." The report quoted people familiar with the matter as saying.
Hyundai Automobile is one of the earliest car companies involved in the research and development of fuel cell technology in the world. According to public data, after Hyundai entered the fuel cell field in 1998, Hyundai launched the world's first hydrogen-producing fuel cell vehicle ix35 FCEV (Tusheng fuel cell vehicle) in 2013 and the second generation hydrogen fuel cell vehicle NEXO, in 2018 to achieve the delivery of the world's first hydrogen-producing fuel cell heavy truck XCIENT Fuel Cell in 2020.
In September, Hyundai released hydrogen Vision 2040, which aims to help build a global hydrogen society by 2040 and achieve the price of fuel cell vehicles comparable to pure electric vehicles by 2030.
Hyundai also has a layout in China's hydrogen market. In March this year, Hyundai established its first overseas hydrogen fuel cell production and sales base in Guangzhou. The project, with a total investment of 8.5 billion yuan, is expected to be completed in the second half of 2022, with an annual hydrogen production fuel cell system of 6500 units planned.
"the fuel cell system produced by the Guangzhou base can be used not only for modern brands, but also for other brands and models." In October this year, Wu Chengcan, general manager of Hyundai hydrogen fuel Cell system (Guangzhou) Co., Ltd., told the Financial Associated Press that "the Guangzhou base will timely increase its production capacity according to market and policy demand."
