Hyundai Motor to export hydrogen trucks for the first time in the world

Hyundai Motor Company has begun the mass-production of large hydrogen trucks for the first time in the world. The South Korean company will first export to Switzerland before dominating the global eco-friendly commercial vehicle market.

Hyundai Motor Company announced that 10 Xcients, its hydrogen truck model, were shipped from the Port of Gwangyang in South Jeolla Province to Switzerland on Monday. Large hydrogen trucks have been made into prototypes or display cars before by global automobile manufacturers, but Hyundai Motor Company is the first to be equipped with a large-scale manufacturing system for commercial sales.

The volume will be transferred to Hyundai Hydrogen Mobility, which was jointly founded in September 2019 by Hyundai Motor Company and H2 Energy, a Swiss hydrogen company. A total of 1,600 trucks will be exported by 2025, including 40 trucks to be exported by the end of this year. Xcient is a 34-ton truck that can drive up to 400 kilometers per single charge of eight to 20 minutes. It is used for food delivery by a retailer in Switzerland.

As Hyundai Motor Company now has mass production systems for both passenger cars and large commercial cars, industry insiders view the company as a global environment-friendly car maker. Starting with Norway in 2025, the new sales of internal combustion engine cars using gasoline and diesel will be restricted. Although large commercial vehicles consume more fossil fuel and emit more pollutants than passenger cars, an environment-friendly source with enough power to drive them had not been found.


Hyung-Seok Seo skytree08@donga.com · Si-Uk Nam @donga.com