Hyundai Motor Company announced Tuesday that it will make its XCIENT hydrogen fuel cell tractor available in the U.S. market next year.
The cabover Class 8 6x4 fuel cell tractor offers up to 450 miles of range when fully loaded and can be refilled in roughly 30 minutes. The truck is equipped with two Hyundai-built 90 kW fuel cell systems that provide power for a 350kW motor that produces up to 1,650 lb.-ft. torque. Excess powered generated by the fuel cells is stored in a 72kW battery.
The truck was displayed this week at the Advanced Clean Transportation Expo in Anaheim, California, where Hyundai’s head of commercial vehicle lifecycle management, Martin Zeilinger, reminded a large crowd of Hyundai’s long commitment to fuel cell systems.
“Hyundai has been focusing on hydrogen for more than 20 years,” Zeilinger said. “Hyundai's advanced fuel cell technology is already in various applications and, especially in the commercial vehicle sector, is showing its powerful performance and reliability.”
[Related: Nikola partnership to spur hydrogen infrastructure development]
In addition to passenger cars, Hyundai’s fuel cells have been at work in trucks and busses in Europe and Asia.
“The fuel cell bus was launched in South Korea in 2019 and over 330 busses are now in operation,” Zeilinger said. “As a successful business case in Switzerland, 47 trucks are on the road with 23 operators since 2020.”
