PARIS – Hyundai will supply 60 models of its ix35 fuel-cell electric vehicles to a startup taxicab company here.
The South Korean manufacturer has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Societe du Taxi Electrique Parisien, creating the largest FCV taxi fleet serving the Greater Paris area. The fleet is expected to expand to several hundred vehicles within five years.
The FCVs will replace existing gasoline- and diesel-powered cars so as not to add to the 17,000 cabs already serving the French capital. Their inclusion in the transport network is expected to save 800 tons of carbon-dioxide emissions annually in a city that has become blighted with frequent air-pollution warnings.
Hyundai claims the ix35 claims to be the world's first mass-produced and commercially available FCV. More than 300 of the vehicles are on the road in 12 European countries, more than all other manufacturers’ FCVs combined.
“With the memorandum of today, STEP and Hyundai Motor have committed to bring 60 additional ix35 Fuel Cell taxis to the streets of Paris,” says Thomas A. Schmid, chief operating officer-Hyundai Motor Europe. “Not only will the fuel-cell taxis provide a clean transportation solution for the city, they are also a practical, comfortable and reliable choice for drivers and passengers.”
The ix35 taxis partially are funded by the Hydrogen Mobility Europe Project. The organization in turn is funded by the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking, a public-private partnership supporting R&D and demonstration activities in fuel-cell and hydrogen-energy technologies in Europe.
