Hyundai Motor Group sells hydrogen fuel cell systems to German firm

Hyundai Motor Group will supply a large quantity of hydrogen fuel cell systems to an eco-friendly truck manufacturer in Europe.

South Korea's top carmaker on Monday said its hydrogen fuel cell system brand HTWO signed a contract on the supply of such cells with Enginius, the eco-friendly commercial vehicle subsidiary of Faun Group, a German manufacturer of garbage trucks for Europe.

This is the first time for the Korean group to supply a fuel cell system to another company for a mass production project.

Hyundai Motor Group will supply 1,100 of the systems to Enginius over the next three years.

The system is the same as that of the 90-kw model used on the Hyundai Nexo, a sport-utility vehicle whose global sales have exceeded 30,000 units.

Enginius will install the Hyundai hydrogen fuel cell system in its mass production of the cleaning vehicle Bluepower and midsize cargo truck Citypower.

Around 60 units of a Bluepower trash truck powered by hydrogen are running, and the Hyundai-developed system will be installed on them from the second half of next year.

Citypower is a new mid-size model of cargo truck for urban areas released by Faun Group. In September this year, the IAA (International Motor Show) Transportation in Germany unveiled a test vehicle equipped with Hyundai hydrogen fuel cells.

Citypower will undergo test runs in 2024 and could be launched in Europe as early as 2025.

Lim Tae-won, executive vice president of the Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Business Center at Hyundai Motor Group, said, "As our first example of large supply of fuel cell systems, this venture will serve as the starting point for business expansion."

Write to Hyung-Kyu Kim at khk@hankyung.com