For reasons unbeknownst to me, Hyundai Motors revealed its next-generation hydrogen fuel cell concept at the Geneva Motor Show this week — showing continued commitment to the technology, despite the lack of infrastructure needed to make it truly viable. Dubbed the FE, or “Future Eco,” the company says the SUV alludes to its next phase of zero emission vehicles.
Sporting similar dimensions, the FE will likely replace the $50,000 Tucson Fuel Cell once it assumes its final form, because it cannot possibly go to market looking like this. Low profile whitewalls and oversized drug dealer rims rarely end up as from-the-factory hardware. However, there are some interesting off-kilter features that might stick around.
For those living in a dry climate with respiratory problems, the FE has an on-board air humidifier that recycles the hydrogen fuel cell’s water-only emissions and makes for a more-enjoyable breathing experience. Hyundai also included portable battery packs and a charging/storage space for an electric scooter. Of course, it called this a “mobility solution” to “match future lifestyles,” which almost forces me to file it under the pure hype category.
A trunk-mounted scooter isn’t entirely out of the question, though. Japan was cramming tiny Motocompo two-wheelers into the back of the Honda City in the 1980s, so there is no reason why Hyundai couldn’t toss an adorable electric pocket bike into the back of a much larger vehicle.
The company claims the FE’s hydrogen technology is 20 percent lighter, 10 percent more efficient, and provides 30 percent more power density than the current Tucson ix35 fuel cell stack — allowing for a range of 497 miles between fill-ups. While there is no word on dynamic performance, it’s safe to assume an attempt was made to improve the hydrogen-fuelled Tucson’s 12-second zero-to-60 time.
The SUV that Hyundai says the Future Eco heralds is set for launch in 2018 and the company says it’s working on releasing at least 14 new environmentally-focused models by 2020.
[Images: Hyundai Motors]
Fuel cells need to stay on spacecraft; they make no sense in cars.
https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2017/03/qotd-car-models-need-die-immediately/#comment-9041745
Only because the CIA assassinates everyone who succeeds, maaan! Like that Ohio guy who built a dune buggy that got like 120 miles to a gallon!
That interior would likely make the driver feel rather blue…
Hell at least it isn’t Black, Grey, or Tan. I’d buy it for that fact alone. You can’t see the exterior from the driver’s seat anyway.
I’d skip the FCV tech, but that blue interior? All day and twice on Sundays. I’m so sick of grey, beige, and black!
Lexus should crib this front end.
The kinda spindle on the front of this thing does rather look better that the ones on the latest Lexus.
And gawd those fugly disproportionally huge and busy looking rims. Hot wheels designers do better than that.
Would be nice to know why every car concept designer on this planet creates, as their signature whatever, a gun-slitted huge wheeled sub-10 tire profiled vehicle that would be eaten alive by our highways?
Last time I saw wheels like that, it was 1999 and they were on an ’84 Buick Regal.
Yeah but the ones on the Regal would keep spinning after you stopped.
I was going to say – they look like the kind of thing someone would be selling on Craiglist so he can pay his cell phone bill. Yikes.
It needs smaller side windows…. NOT
For a second I thought that was crushed velour. But I now realize that was just the shadows. S***.
It does look rather Broughamish, doesn’t it?
Brougham packages should be the next step in CUV evolution. That would be a great way to distinguish one’s product instead of five different models in slightly larger size increments. And a whole lot better profit margin to boot.
They could bring back all of the great nineteen-seventies luxury packages. The Designer Series at Lincoln. Elegante at Cadillac. Park Avenue at Buick. Town Landau at Ford. You get the idea.
I might even go with a CUV if they offered that, and I don’t even like the things.
Promo shots always show cars, particularly luxury cars, with the seat backs set to the BigFatSlobAss position. At that angle, most Americans would suffer drive apnea.
I think you’re seeing a lot of distortion from the wide angle lens. I have seen people piloting vehicles in that seating position though they must have been more akin to passengers as no reliable vehicle control can be maintained when you’re wallowing all over the seat hanging onto the wheel to keep it within reach.
True, bad pincushion makes the headrest area seem gumby.
Hydrogen is the energy storage medium of the future, and it always will be.
Ugly.
I get it’s concept….but those wheels. And that blue interior. It hurts me eyes.