Hyundai: The current lack of green hydrogen 'makes it difficult' to sell H2 vehicles
South Korean automaker’s European boss also says that 'city cars' will not be powered by hydrogen
Hydrogen: hype, hope and the hard truths around its role in the energy transition
“With infrastructure restrictions, it’s not so easy to do wide-scale sales. Also, let’s be honest, today the technology cost and the availability of green hydrogen makes it difficult to really move forward with any volume,” Cole said, adding that he expects better distribution and availability of renewable H2 in the coming years.
“So I definitely see sitting alongside battery electric vehicles will be fuel cell passenger vehicles. I think in terms of practicality, it’ll be in larger vehicles. It’ll be in bigger SUVs. It may not be so easy to put the technology into smaller cars — city cars will be more than likely battery electric.
“Then the bigger, longer commuting cars will probably be hydrogen. But the two things will live together — they're complementary to each other. We don’t see it as one or the other.”
Cole did not explain why commuters would prefer hydrogen fuel-cell cars over battery EVs, especially as the former are said to be more expensive to operate, maintain and run, and the latter often have ranges of more than 200km.