Recent Advances in Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle Technologies of Hyundai

Fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) have received great attention as a promising candidate for eco-friendly vehicles and distributed power plants. Since Hyundai's deployment of the world's first mass-produced FCEV, Tucson ix35, in February 2013, Hyundai has been exerting every effort in resolving three major challenges, i.e., cost, performance, and durability. As a result, Hyundai unveiled an advanced FCEV, Nexo, in March 2018 and began to manufacture it for the world's market. The Nexo FCEV has achieved significant technological advancements compared with its predecessor, Tucson ix35: improved system efficiency from 55% to 60%; enhanced driving range from 415 km to 609 km; enhanced cold start-up capability from -20 degrees C down to -30 degrees C; improved durability from 4 years/80,000 km to 10 years/160,000 km. The recent advances and progress of Hyundai's FCEV technologies will be addressed here, along with the future direction of research and development for next-generation FCEVs.