Hyundai premieres XCIENT Fuel Cell 6×4 tractor-unit at Advanced Clean Transportation (ACT) Expo

Hyundai Motor Company premiered its new XCIENT Fuel Cell 6×4 tractor-unit  fuel cell electric model, for the North American commercial vehicle (CV) market at the Advanced Clean Transportation (ACT) Expo. 

At Hyundai Motor’s press conference, Ken Ramirez, Executive Vice President and Head of Global Commercial Vehicle and Hydrogen Fuel Cell Business at Hyundai Motor, emphasized the importance of achieving carbon neutrality to realize the company’s vision of ‘Progress for Humanity.’ He spoke of the company’s strong commitment to hydrogen mobility and shared its ambition to foster the development of a clean hydrogen ecosystem.

“We firmly believe that hydrogen is one of the most powerful and pragmatic solutions for achieving our vision of ‘Progress for Humanity’ with emission-free mobility as a fundamental pillar for a sustainable society,” said Ramirez. “Our hydrogen fuel cell technology has pioneered the industry, with a real-world proven track record of its efficiency and durability. We are leveraging these merits to further transform transportation with hydrogen energy for a broad range of mobility applications, including commercial vehicles, marine vessels and even air mobility. We now look beyond mobility toward an integrated hydrogen ecosystem, from production of hydrogen to its storage, transport and delivery. Hyundai is uniquely positioned to cover all aspects and deliver a seamless solution across the value chain.”

Also at the press conference, Mark Freymueller, Senior Vice President and Head of Commercial Vehicle Business Innovation at Hyundai Motor, revealed the company’s plan for XCIENT Fuel Cell trucks, underlining the company’s local partnerships to form a solid hydrogen value chain as building blocks toward accelerating the deployment of clean fleets in the U.S.

“For years, we have been initiating hydrogen value chains in various regions. Together with our partners, we are making hydrogen mobility a viable solution for our customers. We go beyond the truck itself to include areas such as hydrogen refuelling and truck maintenance,” said Freymueller. “Here in the U.S., we plan to do the same, since each case needs its tailor-made service approach, especially during the transition phase from traditional to hydrogen. We plan to provide the best hydrogen value chain scenario for each and every customer.”

The company aims to foster partnerships and future businesses to provide fleet operation solutions for hydrogen truck customers and expand the hydrogen value chain in the U.S., using its initial business entry as a bridgehead.

To that end, Hyundai Motor shared its outlook for an eco-friendly CV business incubation project at the Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America (HMGMA), the dedicated electric vehicle factory being built in Georgia. The project is centered on the development of a hydrogen mobility value chain. HMGMA will be equipped with cutting-edge technologies that can produce up to 300,000 EVs annually and an innovative production platform, developed and demonstrated by the Hyundai Motor Group Innovation Center in Singapore (HMGICS). Through the project, the Metaplant will incorporate an eco-friendly logistics system integrating hydrogen fuel cell trucks and a complete hydrogen value chain.

First launched in 2020, XCIENT Fuel Cell has been deployed in five countries, including Switzerland, Germany, Israel, Korea and New Zealand, and has successfully accumulated over 4 million miles so far. It is the only heavy-duty fuel cell electric model with a proven record of real-world application and technological reliability. The model shown at the event is the 6×4 tractor equipped with two 90 kW hydrogen fuel cell systems (total 180 kW power) and a 350 kW e-motor. Its gross combination weight is a maximum 82,000 lbs and offers a driving range of over 450 miles per charge even when fully loaded.