Hyundai has officially announced the investment agreement with the government of the Guangzhou Development District on the establishment of the Hyundai Fuel Cell System (Guangzhou) Co., Ltd., where Hyundai will become the first global automotive manufacturer to set up a production base for hydrogen fuel cell systems in China, which will also be the first overseas production base of hydrogen fuel cell systems for the company.

Hyundai Hydrogen Fuel Cell System (Guangzhou) Co., Ltd. will establish a new juridical person, with 100% of its shares owned by Hyundai. Hyundai had signed a MOU with the Government of Guangdong Province back in December 2019 so as to implement procedures such as meticulous location selection and market survey, as well as coordinated with the government of Guangdong and Guangzhou Development District on the detailed solution of factory construction, in order to march towards the Chinese hydrogen fuel cell market.

The new factory will complete in late February 2021, and plans to commence mass production in batches starting from the second half of 2022, with a preliminary annual production capacity of 6,500 units. The factory will be primarily producing the hydrogen fuel cell system adopted on Hyundai’s hydrogen fuel cell vehicle NEXO, and is able to continuous expand on the provision capability in accordance with the policy and market status of China. Hyundai will depart from this particular production base, and comprehensively unfold the relevant businesses of hydrogen fuel cell systems in the global sector. Hyundai plans to elevate the annual production capacity of hydrogen fuel cell systems to 700K units by 2030.

Hyundai had signed strategic cooperation agreements with partners from hydrogen energy demonstration zones, including Shanghai Electric Power, Sunwise, and Ronghe Electronics from Yangtze Delta, as well as CISRI and HBIS from Jing-Jin-Ji, in November 2020, to co-construct an ecosystem for the hydrogen energy industry. Through this strategic cooperation on hydrogen fuel cell technology, Hydrogen and its working partners are expected to popularize 3,000 and 1,000 hydrogen fuel cell trucks in Yangtze Delta and Jing-Jin-Ji respectively by 2025.

Hyundai released the first hydrogen fuel cell production vehicle ix35 back in 2013, before releasing the second generation hydrogen fuel cell vehicle NEXO in 2018, which sold for more than 10K units as of July 2020, and became bestselling hydrogen fuel cell model in the world, indicating the company’s leading technology in hydrogen fuel cells.

In addition, Hyundai has also recently announced the exclusive brand of HTWO for its hydrogen fuel cell systems, and plans to release the next generation hydrogen fuel cell product that is lightweight, high in output, and significant in density, while also continues to solidify its globally leading technical advantages by constantly reinforcing on the R&D strength in technology.

Source: CBEA