Hydrogen-powered cars have not really caught on as an environmentally friendly alternative means of transportation. However, Hyundai hopes to make up for this by investing more heavily in technology and with its newest hydrogen-powered concept SUV. .
Hyundai has announced plans to start production of a hydrogen SUV in the first half of next year. The Initium can run approximately 404 miles on a single charge and can also run on electricity as a rechargeable backup from the household power supply. The car will also make public debuts at the LA Auto Show and Auto Guangzhou in China next month. It’s not yet confirmed where the cars will be when they go on sale, so it’s not guaranteed to be available in the US.
The Initium may just be a concept car for now, but even if the fuel source doesn’t make nearly as many strides toward widespread adoption as the electric options, Hyundai seems committed to getting its newest hydrogen car to drivers quickly. The South Korean automaker plans to invest $4 billion to develop hydrogen vehicle technology and infrastructure to reach its goal of complete carbon neutrality by 2045. introduced last year.
Hydrogen may be an efficient alternative to gasoline, but it still has a ways to go to compete with electric vehicles (and that’s without accepting the continued proliferation of gasoline-powered cars). There are only 59 hydrogen filling stations in the United States, and most of them are in California . There are only a handful of automakers that still offer a hydrogen-powered option, including Hyundai.) and Toyota (). Honda previously offered a hydrogen car with The Clarity, but it was discontinued in 2021. .
