Hyundai floats hydrogen sports car, semi and more in wave of previews
The Korean automaker has plenty to share next month around hydrogen-powered vehicles -- and maybe more on their infrastructure.
Hyundai has its fingers in a lot of pies, folks. It's invested in flying taxis, walking cars that transform, electric cars and, yes, hydrogen-powered vehicles. Next month, we'll learn a lot more about the latter after Hyundai Motor announced Thursday its upcoming Hydrogen Wave event. With it, we received three short video previews showcasing snippets of what's to come, and there's a lot here.
The first teaser, embedded above, seems to focus on performance. With it, we see a snail followed by a sports car of sorts drifting by. In the process, our gastropod friend isn't covered in dust or exhaust fumes, but water droplets. Hydrogen fuel cells create no byproduct other than water, so it looks like Hyundai's going to show us some sort of performance car. Frankly, it's exciting to see engineers tinkering with a sports car -- as lovely as the Nexo SUV is, it's just not all that exciting.
Moving right along, preview No. 2 shows off what looks like a hydrogen-powered semi truck. While the possibility of a sports car is a surprise, this one isn't a shock. Back in December of last year, Hyundai revealed a new hydrogen powertrain that it wants to fit to cars, boats, trains and trucks. It also showed off a concept semi truck called the HTwo. We're also treated to a passing glance of this truck in the second teaser.
Finally, teaser No. 3 is a little more vague. However, if I had to take a shot, the theme lends itself to hydrogen refueling infrastructure. In the short teaser, the video reads, "Charge hydrogen wherever you are. Hydrogen is on its way to the world." I often like to compare electric car infrastructure to hydrogen infrastructure, because it displays the massive gap between the two. If you think EV chargers are few and far between, hydrogen refueling stations are saved for special oasis areas. Really, the only places you'll find stations in the US are in California and Hawaii. If Hyundai devised some way to massively expand that infrastructure, that'd be a game-changer for future fuel-cell vehicles.
And that's all we have for now. The presentation will take place live on YouTube on Sept. 7, so we don't have long to wait until we learn a whole lot more.
