Hyundai’s Initium Concept Previews Next Gen of Hydrogen Fuel Cell Cars

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Key Takeaways

  • SUV highlights new ‘Art of Steel’ design language
  • Showcases all-new fuel cell electric vehicle technology
  • Initium concept will spawn Hyundai Nexo successor

Hyundai is taking its next steps in the world of hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV) with the unveiling of its latest Initium concept vehicle.

Taken from the Latin word for “at the beginning”, the South Korean company hopes the latest vehicle will push its 27 years of FCEV research to the next level and help it fulfill a vision of a hydrogen society.

Set to be the successor of the marque’s Nexo, a model that has spearheaded the hydrogen movement alongside Toyota’s Mirai model, the Initium concept showcases a new ‘Art of Steel’ design language.

Hyundai’s Global Design Director, SangYup Lee, claims the SUV shape was deliberate, because packaging of hydrogen fuel cells is complicated and requires space, but also because he wanted to show that hydrogen could be “solid and safe”.

The concept borrows heavily from the N Vision 74 concept car, which highlighted hydrogen’s place in a performance car setting, with a similar light signature at the front. There are deep slashes around the sides and a built-in roof rack that also houses front and rear LED lights.

 

 

A quadruplet of LED cubes at the front and rear acts as the daytime running light signature, Lee says these have been deliberately selected, as it represents the letter ‘H’ in morse code, signifying both hydrogen and Hyundai.

Jin Huang Jung, head of vehicle development at Hyundai, revealed that the concept is capable of Vehicle-to-Load (V2L), which allows the fuel cell system to power domestic appliances or electrical equipment when camping. In fact, the fuel cell stack is enough to power the average Korean home for well over a week. 

To make this easier, there is an external V2L port which won’t require an adaptor for use, as it has been designed to work with standard plugs.

The fuel cell stack, which creates electricity from either liquid or gas hydrogen, has been thoroughly revised for the next generation, boasting vastly improved durability and a reduction in the overall cost of manufacture, which the company hopes can be passed on to the consumer via prices more in-line with today’s pure electric vehicles.

 

 

Performance has been boosted too, with a 150kW (or around 200bhp) motor- as opposed to 120kW in the Nexo – able to propel the Initium concept from 0-62mph in 8 seconds, which is around a second faster than Nexo.

Hyundai is aiming for an overall range in excess of 400 miles, thanks to improvements in the hydrogen density of the storage tanks and general improvements in efficiency, although it isn’t a vast improvement over the 380-miles offered by the existing Nexo product.

However, to ensure owners get the most seamless hydrogen experience, software engineers have developed an FCEV-specific route planner that resides in the infotainment system and will route and navigate with available hydrogen fuelling stations in mind. 

Clearly designed to highlight Hyundai’s commitment to hydrogen research, the Initium concept also fits in the company’s overall plans for a circular hydrogen economy. 

At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier this year, Hyundai unveiled its HTWO sub brand that consolidates all of the companies within the group that are working on advanced hydrogen solutions. The plan includes the creation of green hydrogen through biomass and plastic waste, the distribution of the fuel via its own hydrogen-powered fleet and the eventual use of the fuel by everything from heavy duty trucks to trams.