Inside the artificial wind tunnel where Hyundai puts its trucks to the test

Hyundai Motor's Namyang R&D Center tests both conventional and eco-friendly vehicles under extreme weather conditions.

Hyundai Motor's hydrogen-powered Xcient Fuel Cell truck in a test room at the company's Namyang R&D Center in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi. [HYUNDAI MOTOR]

HWASEONG, Gyeonggi — A hydrogen-powered Xcient Fuel Cell truck is being sprayed with gas in a bright chamber at 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit).

The bright lights emanate from solar panels patched on the ceiling and walls of the room, which are designed to replicate weather conditions across the world and extreme environments.

The gas spraying the hydrogen truck is paraffin fuel, a liquid derived from paraffin wax. By spraying the substance at the vehicle inside a wind tunnel and examining the airflow, the manufacturer hopes to improve its aerodynamic performance.

All types of Hyundai cars — whether powered by gas, electricity or hydrogen — are rested at Hyundai Motor's Namyang R&D Center in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi. But the site particularly represents Hyundai's business pillar of hydrogen-powered heavy duty trucks, where the automaker competes with U.S. electric truck maker Nikola as well as price-cutting Chinese players like Foton Motors and Great Wall Motor.

The chamber, big enough to snugly fit the large truck and around 20 journalists, measures 20 meters in length, 10 meters in width 6.6 meters in height. Its indoor temperature can range between 60 and minus 40 degrees Celsius and its humidity from five to 95 percent. The facility can simulate winds of up to 120 kilometers (75 miles) per hour.

The room, on the day of the press tour, was much warmer than the still chilly outdoors; a few journalists immediately took off their coats.

“I initially wanted to set the room temperature to 45 degrees Celsius, replicating the Middle Eastern standards,” Hyundai Motor’s Lee Gang-woong, senior research engineer of CV energy efficiency & drivability test team, jokingly told journalists who entered the room.

A car's interior is often hotter than the climate outside — one left in 45 degrees Celsius might climb over 60 in the cabin, Lee explained — so vehicles must be verified to withstand extreme temperatures. The temperatures of electric vehicle (EV) batteries, in particular, can fluctuate heavily when charging.

The spacious room could accommodate a truck and about 20 or more journalists.

The hydrogen truck was placed on a dynamometer, with a monitor displaying a simulated road scene outside the chamber’s glass wall.

Three 400 kilowatt ultrafast chargers, used test charging efficiency, were docked to one side.

The charging of hydrogen cars can emit five times as more heat than internal combustion engines do, so the cooling system is a crucial part of the vehicle testing, according to Lee.

“Chinese EVs will not be charged under extreme weather conditions, such as minus 20 degrees Celsius,” Lee said. “Ours can, because that’s all been thoroughly tested.”

BYD, the biggest Chinese automaker, is currently preparing to debut in Korea with cheap vehicles, according to media reports earlier this month.

The company is preparing to certify its EVs through the Ministry of Environment, which assesses mileage and battery safety among other criteria. The process normally takes two to three months, which makes it likely that BYD will enter Korea in the third quarter of this year at the earliest.

“This test facility is the world’s only commercial chamber capable of developing both eco-friendly vehicles, including hydrogen cars, and conventional internal combustion engines,” Lee said, noting that the center has seen visitors from countries including Switzerland, China, Japan, Australia, the United States and nations in the Middle East. The latter region, Lee says, “has significant demand for electric and hydrogen cars, and those groups have shown considerable interest.”

BY LEE JAE-LIM [lee.jaelim@joongang.co.kr]