Hyundai Fuel-Cell Vehicles Deployed in London Region

Just three months after signing on as a partner in the London Hydrogen Network Expansion project, Hyundai ships five ix35 hydrogen-fuel-cell-powered SUVs to the U.K. for use by various government ministries and agencies, WardsAuto has learned.

Delivery of the vehicles puts in place the second European fleet to participate in the Hytech Project, a partnership between the cities of London and Copenhagen that aims at making both areas vehicle-emissions-free by developing the use of hydrogen vehicles.

A spokesman says the five units are being leased for use in high-profile public and private fleets that will operate within London, as well as on highways and in other urban centers in Southeast England.

The project has two hydrogen refueling stations in operation in London and a third under development. Another three will be added in 2015.

In total there will be 65 hydrogen refueling stations located in London, other major cities and along the M1 and M4 highways by 2015.Plans call for the U.K. network to be further expanded to 300 stations by 2025, and to 1,150 by 2030.

Hyundai in April signed the partnership agreement with London Deputy Mayor Kit Malthouse, who is chairman of the hydrogen-network-expansion project.

“These are early days, but I am tremendously excited by the prospects of London’s hydrogen future,” Malthouse says in a news release. “Hyundai is providing invaluable insights and bringing global experience to the mayor’s innovative low-carbon, low-emissionst ransport activities.”

Malthouse notes that while London currently has 1,300 charging stations for battery-powered electric vehicles, he considers battery EV technology a temporary solution to vehicle-emissions problems.

He says London is too densely populated to make EV battery recharging at home feasible because there often is no street parking space within connection distance of the owner’s residence and very few London residences have garages. Congestion and long waits at high-speed charge stations is frequent, he says.

“For me, hydrogen cracks all those problems and it also solves other issues along the way such as making best use of wind energy,” Malthouse says. “We also produce a huge amount of waste and we are looking at schemes that convert biomass into hydrogen. So as well as producing a clean fuel, we would be reducing the amount of waste we put into landfill.”

The five ix35 Fuel Cell vehicles were built at the same Hyundai plant in Ulsan, South Korea, that produces the regular Tucson SUV (called ix35 in Europe), which is the basic platform for both vehicles.

Hyundai plans to produce 1,000 ix35 Fuel Cell units this year to be leased for special fleet use. A spokesman says most of them will be exported to Europe. The SUVs will be offered to the general public beginning sometime in 2015, with Hyundai targeting annual sales of 10,000 units.

While pricing is not disclosed by Hyundai, some analysts believe that with mass sales by 2025 the ix35 Fuel Cell vehicle will cost more than a diesel-powered Tucson/ix35. The ix35 will move toward parity with a Tucson diesel as sales volumes increase.

Reports from independent test drivers indicate the ix35 Fuel Cell is a virtual twin of the Tucson, except that it is totally quiet and has more getaway power.

Hyundai’s spec sheet gives it a rating of 0-65 mph (105 km/h) in 12.5 seconds, top speed of 100 mph (161 km) and range of 369 miles (594 km). Fill-up from empty takes four minutes.

Arrival of the fleet for London’s hydrogen-expansion program follows by a few weeks the delivery of 15 ix35 Fuel Cell vehicles to the City of Copenhagen, for similar fleet testing.

The SUVs arrived in early June at the Danish capital and were in service by June 6, one day after the city’s first hydrogen-refueling station went into operation. Copenhagen is developing a total of three refueling stations.