Hyundai: Hydrogen fuel cell SUV ready for mass production

Korean automaker Hyundai said Wednesday that it plans to mass produce a hydrogen fuel-cell electric vehicle in 2015.

The company said that it has completed development on its next-gen Tucson ix Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle. The Tucson ix has a 100-kilowatt fuel cell system and two hydrogen storage tanks. The Tucson can also go 650 kilometers on one charge---about the equivalent of a gas-powered auto.

That range is a 76 percent improvement over the previous Tucson fuel-cell car, which logged 370 kilometers on a charge.

What Hyundai’s spec sheet shows is solid progress on shrinking the fuel cell system and improving range. Hyundai, which participated in a hydrogen fuel cell demonstration program by the U.S. Department of Energy, said it will produce 48 Tucson ix vehicles to be used by the Korean government.

This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com