Hyundai Motor to deploy five XCIENT Fuel Cell trucks in California in 2023

[Source: Hyundai Motor Co.]

South Korea’s top automaker Hyundai Motor Co. will deploy five XCIENT Fuel Cell electric trucks in California next year under a funding program led by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

According to Hyundai Motor on Thursday, it secured $3.5 million in 2021 Targeted Airshed Grants (TAG) funding from the U.S. EPA to deploy five units of its latest electric trucks in California in the third quarter of next year. TAG – initiated in 2015 – is a funding program for projects registered by state and local air pollution control agencies in each region with an aim to reduce air pollution across the United States.

Hyundai Motor joined First Element Fuel (FEF), the largest hydrogen-refueling station operator in the U.S., in a project led by South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD), an air pollution control agency of Government of California.

The project which won $3.5 million in funding was highly evaluated by the EPA in criteria such as sustainability, technology, and exhaust reduction effect.

Hyundai Motor will sign an agreement with FEF and provide the trucks in the third quarter of next year. The trucks will undergo one year of demonstration in California before four years of commercial operation.

Hyundai Motor’s XCIENT Fuel Cell truck is a 37.2-ton hydrogen electric truck tractor model equipped with 180-kilowatt fuel cell system and e-motor with a maximum output of 350 kilowatt. The truck has a driving range of up to 720 kilometers per single charge.

Hyundai Motor also announced its NorCal Zero project last year, also known as Zero-Emission Regional Truck Operations with Fuel Cell Electric Trucks. The carmaker will supply 30 fuel cell electric trucks in California from the second quarter of next year.

“Hyundai is actively engaged in setting up a carbon neutral hydrogen value chain around the world,” said Mark Freymueller, senior vice president and head of commercial vehicle business innovation at Hyundai Motor. “We are happy to deploy our XCIENT Fuel Cell trucks in California, especially since this will help local stakeholders to decarbonize the hydrogen supply chain itself by substituting conventional trucks, which have been used to haul hydrogen – to hydrogen trucks.”

“Reducing pollution from heavy-duty trucks and construction equipment brings us closer to the cleaner air that our communities deserve,” said Wayne Nastri, SCAQMD’s executive officer.

Hyundai Motor in 2020 established the world’s first hydrogen electric truck mass production system and has been shipping units to major markets including the U.S., Switzerland, and Germany. The company has already deployed 47 units in Switzerland where they topped 4 million kilometers in accumulated driving range as of July. Hyundai Motor also announced in August it will be deploying 27 units in Germany.

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