Production of Hydrogen at a cost affordable to the customer, economical storage and transportation of hydrogen and cheap combination of hydrogen and oxygen in a fuel cell to produce electricity are some of the major concerns for companies working in the field of hydrogen fuel cells.
Hyundai is a leader in hydrogen fuel cell technology having launched the first fuel cell electric car the Ix35 Fuel Cell or the Tucson Fuel Cell in 2013. Their latest fuel cell vehicle, the NEXO has a range of 609 km. In order to address the above mentioned challenges and to strengthen its position as a global fuel cell leader, Hyundai is investing in three start-ups across Europe and Israel.
Hyundai is investing in Israeli company H2Pro which has developed the E-TAC ( electrochemical, thermally active chemical) water splitting technology for hydrogen production. This technology is efficient, affordable and safe and will help reduce the cost of hydrogen production.
The second company in which Hyundai is investing is GRZ Technologies. This is a Swiss company which specialises in energy storage in hydrogen form. The hyrogen storage technology developed by GRZ Technologies is safer as it stores hydrogen at lower pressure and with higher density. The proprietary hydrogen compression technology developed by GRZ Technologies is more affordable than existing technologies. Hyundai’s agreement with GRZ will accelerate the company’s efforts to commercialize hydrogen infrastructure for greater accessibility to customers.
The third company in which Hyundai is investing is Swedish company Impact Coatings which has developed ceramic coatings to replace expensive precious metals used in the manufacture of fuel cells. The two companies will co-develop a new generation of materials, processes and equipment for a variety of applications, including fuel cells and hydrogen production.
The Transport Journal 