In the past five years, Hyundai has fought a hard battle to improve the quality of its vehicles—which were once viewed as inferior budget-constrained choices. It looks like the South Korean automaker has won. It is now consistently ranking near the top of quality surveys by consumers and auto industry market firms. According to BusinessWeek, Hyundai "has emerged as the fastest growing of the major automakers."Fresh from showing it can make affordable cars without sacrificing quality, the carmaker is appeared to be ready to make hybrid technology affordable. Then, the company slammed on the brakes. Automotive News reported in May 2006 that Hyundai would delay introduction of hybrid cars until 2009 at the earliest. The article cited the rising value of South Korea's currency—which means auto sales in the U.S. generate fewer won for Hyundai—and generally weak auto sales. And then there's the turmoil at the top level of the company: the chairman of Hyundai Motor, Chung Mong Koo, was charged in May in South Korea with embezzling $136 million to create a political slush fund. The controversy, according to the New York Times, caused the company to delay important projects, including the development of Kia's first American plant and the development of hybrid vehicles.
The Hyundai Avante sedan (pictured) will come out in hybrid form next year, Hyundai says. The car is sold in the United States as the Elantra. (Photo courtesy of Hyundai Motor Company)
The Hyundai Tucson Hybrid FCEV has an extended driving range (186 miles), more top end speed (93 mph) and greater cold start capacity (-20 Celsius when sitting idle for 5 days) than the Sante Fe FCEV. By comparison, the Sante Fe FCEV comes with a range of approximately 90 miles, top speed of 77 mph and no real cold cranking power of which to speak. The Hyundai Tucson Hybrid FCEV also gets 80 kw of power from its new electric motors compared to the Sante Fe FCEV's 75 kw motors.
The fuel cell system including drivetrain and hybrid battery are located in the Hyundai Tucson FCEV in such a way as to retain interior space and cargo capacity. The power plant, including fuel cell stack is located under the hood and the new lithium ion polymer battery pack is located in the spare tire wheel well. All crash test safety standards were met and the Tucson FCEV even showed better side-impact crash performance than the standard Tucson SUV.
The Hyundai Tucson Hybrid FCEV was built using lightweight, high-performance aluminum body components, making it slightly lighter than its predecessor, while increasing safety. The 40 gallon compressed hydrogen tanks were built by Dynetek Industries Ltd. of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The fuel cells stack was developed by UTC Fuel Cells of South Windsor, Connecticut, USA. The next generation hybrid-electric drive train, motor and control unit were developed by Enova Systems, of Torrance, California. Hyundai Motor Co. and LG Chem in Seoul, Korea co-developed the 152-V high voltage battery pack.
The next step for Hyundai is fleet testing of its hydrogen vehicles. On December 14, 2005, Hyundai has delivered the first two of the eventual 10 Hyundai and Kia Sportage FCEV SUVs to the Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District (AC Transit). This marks the beginning of a five-year demonstration and validation project designed to evaluate hydrogen vehicles and infrastructure.
In April 2004, the Department of Energy awarded Hyundai, Chevron Corporation and UTC Power a federal grant to research hydrogen-powered fuel cell technology. In Chino, California, Chevron opened its first-ever hydrogen energy station at the Hyundai America Technical Center (HATCI). Fleet vehicles also are planned for the Southern California Edison utility company (Rosemead, California) and the U.S. Army facilities in Detroit.
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