Hydrogen-powered vehicles haven’t really become popular as an environmentally friendly alternative mode of transportation. However, Hyundai hopes to solve this problem with a big investment in this technology and its latest hydrogen-powered concept SUV Initium.
Hyundai has announced that it plans to begin production of the hydrogen SUV in the first half of next year. Initium can run about 404 miles on a single refuel and can also run on electric power as a backup that can be recharged from a household power supply.
The vehicle will also make its public debut at the LA Auto Show and Auto Guangzhou in China next month. It hasn’t yet been confirmed where the cars will be available when they go on sale, so a US launch isn’t guaranteed.
Initium may just be a concept car for now, but Hyundai is committed to getting its latest hydrogen car to drivers as quickly as possible, even if the fuel source hasn’t made as much progress towards widespread acceptance as electric alternatives.
The South Korean carmaker plans to invest $4 billion to develop its hydrogen vehicle technology and infrastructure to meet its full carbon neutrality goal by 2045, including cars like the Initium and the electric Ioniq 5 unveiled last year.
Hydrogen may be an efficient alternative to gasoline, but it still has a long way to go to be competitive with electric vehicles (and that’s without acknowledging the continued prevalence of gasoline-powered cars).
According to the US Department of Energy, there are only 59 hydrogen charging stations in the US, most of which are in California. There are only a handful of carmakers that still offer hydrogen-powered options, including Hyundai (Nexo SUV) and Toyota (Mirari). According to Car and Driver, Honda used to offer a hydrogen car with the Clarity, but it stopped production in 2021.