Hyundai ix35 Fuel Cell rolls off Ulsan production line

hyundai-ix35-fuel-cell

Production of the Hyundai ix35 Fuel Cell began at the company’s Ulsan manufacturing plant in Korea in January, making Hyundai the first automaker to begin commercial production of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. The first complete car rolled off the assembly line on February 26.

Hyundai plans to make 1,000 units of the ix35 Fuel Cell by 2015, targeted predominantly at public sector and private fleets, with limited mass production of 10,000 units beyond 2015. The company has already signed contracts to lease the ix35 Fuel Cell to municipal fleets in Copenhagen, Denmark and Skåne, Sweden.

Additionally, since October 2011, the EU Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU) in Brussels has been providing the ix35 Fuel Cell to EU policy makers and the public in order to demonstrate the market readiness of fuel cell tech.

The ix35 Fuel Cell is the third-generation fuel cell-powered EV from Hyundai after the Santa Fe FCEV in 2000 and the Tucson FCEV in 2005. Naturally, the ix35 Fuel Cell delivers improvements over its predecessor, including a range that has been extended by more than 50% and fuel efficiency gains of more than 15%.

ix35-fcev

The car is equipped with a 100 kW (136 hp) electric motor, allowing it to reach a maximum speed of 160 km/h. Two hydrogen storage tanks, with a total capacity of 5.64 kg, enable the vehicle to travel a total of 594 km on a single fill. The energy is stored in a 24 kW lithium-ion polymer battery, jointly developed with LG Chemical.

Fuel cells operate by turning chemical energy from hydrogen into electromechanical energy. Internal to a fuel cell, an anode and cathode sandwich a polymer electrolyte membrane. The process of creating an electrical current occurs in three stages.

First, hydrogen gas flows over the anode, causing it to split into hydrogen ions (protons) and electrons. The polymer electrolyte membrane only allows the protons to pass through. The electrons travel to an external circuit which operate the motor. At the cathode, electrons and protons react with oxygen (from air) creating H2O (water) which flows out of the cell as the only waste product.

Hyundai isn’t the only one playing with hydrogen. Earlier this year, Daimler AG, Ford and Nissan agreed to jointly develop a common fuel cell stack and system for “the world’s first affordable, mass-market FCEVs” by 2017. A a fuel cell vehicle system (fuel cell stack, hydrogen tank and motor) by 2020 is also on the BMW-Toyota cooperation agenda.

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Danny Tan

Danny Tan loves driving as much as he loves a certain herbal meat soup, and sweet engine music as much as drum beats. He has been in the auto industry since 2006, previously filling the pages of two motoring magazines before joining this website. Enjoys detailing the experience more than the technical details.

 

Comments

  • Where are you?

    Honda? Toyota?

    Waiting for stupid fanboys to bash me.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 22
    • Useless, go search Google Honda fcx clarity.. nicer than tis Hyundai ~

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 8 Thumb down 7
      • stARrr on Mar 13, 2013 at 2:33 am

        Don’t blame him ~he dunno about honda, i think he even dunno what is Honda nsx ~even Hyundai Genesis 100 percent only can smell the smoke from nsx

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 5
      • Martin Koch on Mar 17, 2013 at 10:30 pm

        video of the municipal wastewater treatment plant in OC calif. that shows the “clarity”… nice car. check this video out… impressive “tri generation” fuel cell sewage gas station….

        “New fuel cell sewage gas station in Orange County, CA may be world’s first”
        http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/local/orange_county&id=8310315

        “It is here today and it is deployable today,” said Tom Mutchler of Air Products and Chemicals Inc., a sponsor and developer of the project.

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 0
    • stuart on Mar 13, 2013 at 8:48 am

      Mazda RX8 also run on fuel cell long time ago…It just goes to show people like you will end up buying Korean cars..know nothing about car.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 4
    • Sam Loo on Mar 20, 2013 at 12:03 am

      I encourage more people to buy new kimchis, as trading used kimchis is very profitable

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 3
  • zerouzer on Mar 12, 2013 at 7:55 pm

    Honda already developed their Fuel Cell cars. and being tested on real world application in California

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 11 Thumb down 3
  • Hyundai De La Junk on Mar 12, 2013 at 9:39 pm

    Honda already leasing FCX Clarity Fuel Cell Car in California long ago, problem is cost of fuel cell station is too high, pointlessness for Hyundai to have fuel cell car but no one willing to setup Fuel Cell Station.
    Another white elephant project. Sigh….

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 6 Thumb down 10
  • It’s so CX5

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 1
  • pinBaLl on Mar 13, 2013 at 2:22 am

    Honda already develops long time ago ~ppl who live in cave still say Hyundai invent it ~~stupid

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 5 Thumb down 7
  • Martin Koch on Mar 17, 2013 at 10:24 pm

    Found some interesting video/links concerning municipal wastewater treatment plants using fuel cells to create 3 value streams from a human waste! Impressive in my opinion.

    “New fuel cell sewage gas station in Orange County, CA may be world’s first”
    http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/local/orange_county&id=8310315

    “It is here today and it is deployable today,” said Tom Mutchler of Air Products and Chemicals Inc., a sponsor and developer of the project.

    2.8MW fuel cell using biogas now operating; Largest PPA of its kind in North America
    http://www.fuelcelltoday.com/news-events/news-archive/2012/october/28-mw-fuel-cell-using-biogas-now-operating-largest-ppa-of-its-kind-in-north-america

    Microsoft Backs Away From Grid
    http://blogs.wsj.com/cio/2012/11/20/microsoft-backs-away-slowly-from-the-grid/

    Tri-Generation Facility Fuels Next Gen of Vehicle Tech.
    http://www.earthtechling.com/2013/02/tri-generation-facility-fuels-next-gen-of-vehicle-tech/

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 0
  • Martin Koch on Mar 17, 2013 at 10:26 pm

    Value streams from municipal wastewater treatment plants using fuel cell technology are Electricity, Hydrogen and Heat! All from a human waste… There is a lot of wastewater in the world?

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
 

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