Hyundai Plans New Fuel Cell Vehicle for CES, But What's This About Powering Your Home?

Matthew Guy
by Matthew Guy

Despite the inherent challenges with using hydrogen as a fuel source, Hyundai is plowing ahead with a new generation of fuel cell vehicle as a follow up to the Tucson Fuel Cell it currently offers in limited markets.

Difference is, the current hydrogen-powered Tucson shares a lot of sheetmetal with the traditionally fuelled Tucson. The new, as yet unnamed, hydrogen crossover doesn’t look like anything in Hyundai’s portfolio … at least not yet.

It’s not unrealistic to suspect the machine shown here may be a harbinger of future Hyundai design philosophy, given the company has said it is “near-production” ready. The Hyundai FE Concept shown last year at Geneva looks remarkably similar.

At Geneva, the company said the electrified FCV will boast a range of nearly 500 miles, more than double the range of the most long-legged electric cars and about a hundred miles ahead of Honda’s Clarity Fuel Cell car. However, that 500 mile estimate is likely based on the notoriously optimistic European test cycle, so expect a real-world figure well south of that number. The alarmingly styled Toyota Mirai has an advertised range of 312 miles, for example.

It’s the latest salvo in Hyundai’s burgeoning effort to build eco-minded cars, such as the Ioniq line introduced to take on stalwarts like the Toyota Prius. The company also mentions “hydrogen-powered applications in the home,” alluding to some sort of technology that takes energy generated by the car and uses it to power one’s kitchen coffee pot. Nissan showed off this type of equipment while unveiling the new Leaf, except its solution used batteries and not hydrogen, of course.

Not to be outdone by other manufacturers that are taking full advantage of the mobility buzzword, the new fuel cell crossover will get a raft of driver assistance tech, all of which Hyundai will fully disclose at CES next week. Dubbed the “Advanced Driver Assistance System,” it could be a preview of tech that’ll eventually filter down to workaday Hyundais as a rival to the Honda Sensing suite of safety tech.

Hyundai’s existing entrant in the hydrogen sandbox, the Tucson Fuel Cell, is offered on a 36-month lease at $499 per month with about $3,000 due at signing. Naturally, it’s only available in the few California locales where the hydrogen infrastructure exists to support the running of these machines. Expect this new car, whatever it’s going to be called, to mirror that level of availability.

The press conference for Hyundai’s new Fuel Cell Vehicle will take place at 3:00 p.m. PST on Monday, January 8. You can find the livestream here.

[Images: Hyundai]

Matthew Guy
Matthew Guy

Matthew buys, sells, fixes, & races cars. As a human index of auto & auction knowledge, he is fond of making money and offering loud opinions.

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  • Jalop1991 Jalop1991 on Jan 04, 2018

    "The company also mentions “hydrogen-powered applications in the home,” alluding to some sort of technology that takes energy generated by the car and uses it to power one’s kitchen coffee pot. Nissan showed off this type of equipment while unveiling the new Leaf, except its solution used batteries and not hydrogen, of course." Ooooo, an electric car can be equipped to divert its electric power away from the wheel motor and over to...anything else that uses electricity! Seriously, Prius drivers figured this out years ago. It's a great generator for during a power outage. It runs on demand to fill up its battery then shuts off while the battery slowly depletes, then runs itself again to fill the battery back up. And even better, you drive it to the gas station, fill it with 12 gallons of gas, then drive it home. No more lugging gas around and transferring it from the can to the generator.

  • Steve65 Steve65 on Jan 05, 2018

    "more than double the range of the most long-legged electric cars" "about a hundred miles ahead of Honda’s Clarity Fuel Cell car." So which is it? A fuel cell car is an electric. The only significant difference from a battery electric is the source of the electricity.

    • Stuki Stuki on Jan 05, 2018

      To many, "electric" means you fill kit up with electricity. Gas means you fill it up with gas, regardless of how that gas gets converted into motion. Ditto diesel or H2. Diesel-electric locomotives, submarines and harbor tugs are referred to as diesel powered, for example....

  • ToolGuy "Honey, someone is trying to cross the moat again"
  • Rochester "better than Vinfast" is a pretty low bar.
  • TheMrFreeze That new Ferrari looks nice but other than that, nothing.And VW having to put an air-cooled Beetle in its display to try and make the ID.Buzz look cool makes this classic VW owner sad 😢
  • Wolfwagen Is it me or have auto shows just turned to meh? To me, there isn't much excitement anymore. it's like we have hit a second malaise era. Every new vehicle is some cookie-cutter CUV. No cutting-edge designs. No talk of any great powertrains, or technological achievements. It's sort of expected with the push to EVs but there is no news on that front either. No new battery tech, no new charging tech. Nothing.
  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
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