Just a few weeks after Toyota announced that the company will mass-produce its first-ever fuel-cell vehicle to go on sale in several markets including California next year, Hyundai promised to bring the same technology to the Canadian public even earlier. The Hyundai Tucson Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle (FCEV) will be available to Canadians on a 3-year lease beginning in early 2015 in the Vancouver area. Sounds like ‘healthy’ competition (pun intended!) don’t you think?
Just like the recently launched Toyota Mirai, the Hyundai Tucson Fuel Cell stores hydrogen gas and draws an inflow of air to the fuel cell stack. There is no combustion of hydrogen and the stack has no moving parts. The electrochemical process of combining oxygen and hydrogen in the fuel cell stack creates electricity to power the vehicle’s electric motor and charge an on-board battery. The only by-product of the process is pure water vapor, so there’s no greenhouse-gas emissions.
In 2013, Hyundai Motor became the first ever auto manufacturer to mass-produce fuel cell vehicles. The Tucson Fuel Cell is based on its traditional, petrol-powered Tucson crossover vehicle. This approach brings manufacturing costs of the vehicle down significantly and allows the company to scale production to meet demand.
The Hyundai Tucson Fuel Cell takes less than 5 minutes to refuel and has an estimated range of 426 km (In comparison, the Toyota Mirai can travel up to 482 km on a single tank of hydrogen). The Tucson Fuel Cell has also undergone extensive crash, fire, and leak testing. Furthermore, cold weather has proven to have minimal affect to the Tucson Fuel Cell driving range when compared to battery electric vehicles.
To introduce the new Tucson Fuel Cell to the Canadian market, a select group of lucky Canadians will have the exclusive opportunity to lease the vehicle at $599 (est RM1,800) per month over a three year term. The lease includes maintenance and unlimited hydrogen refueling. In addition, Tucson Fuel Cell owners will enjoy an “At Your Service” valet program. Should a Tucson Fuel Cell require any service, a Hyundai dealer will pick up the vehicle and provide a loaner hybrid vehicle, then return it after service is complete to their home or business, at no charge.
The Hyundai Tucson Fuel Cell is currently available to customers in a number of countries around the world, including the U.S., the U.K., Germany, France, Belgium, Italy, Austria, Netherland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, and South Korea.
