Hyundai Motor Targets European Commercial Vehicle Market... Xcient Hydrogen Electric Truck 'Entry' into Germany

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunseok Yoo] Hyundai Motor Company's Xcient hydrogen electric trucks are entering Germany, the largest commercial vehicle market in Europe.

Hyundai Motor recently announced on the 2nd that it will supply 27 Xcient hydrogen electric trucks to seven companies in logistics, manufacturing, and other sectors in Germany. This marks the second export to Europe following the delivery of 47 trucks to 23 companies in Switzerland from 2020 to June 2022.

This supply contract is based on the German Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport (BMDV)'s eco-friendly commercial vehicle subsidy policy. The seven companies applied for subsidies from BMDV using Hyundai's Xcient hydrogen electric trucks and received final approval.

Recently, the German government has shown efforts to expand the distribution of eco-friendly commercial vehicles. It introduced policies providing subsidies to companies purchasing eco-friendly commercial vehicles and infrastructure operators such as charging station providers. In this process, each company selects eligible vehicles for support.

In line with these movements by the German government, Hyundai established the hydrogen commercial vehicle specialized sales corporation 'Hyundai Hydrogen Mobility Germany (HHMG)' in April and actively promoted the excellence of the Xcient hydrogen electric trucks to companies within Germany.

As a result, seven companies ultimately selected Hyundai as their partner and participated in the subsidy bidding. Notably, all seven companies received subsidy benefits, proving the excellence of the Xcient hydrogen electric trucks.

The Xcient hydrogen electric trucks to be supplied by Hyundai are large cargo trucks with a total weight of 42 tons (including trailer weight). Equipped with a 180kW hydrogen fuel cell system consisting of two hydrogen fuel cells and a 350kW maximum output drive motor, they can travel up to 400 km on a single charge.

Hyundai plans to actively target the German hydrogen commercial vehicle market through this supply of Xcient hydrogen electric trucks. Centered on HHMG, Hyundai will strengthen promotional activities targeting various operators and aims to expand the hydrogen ecosystem within Germany through service network establishment and other efforts.

Mark Freymueller, Head of Hyundai Motor's Commercial Innovation Division, said, "We expect Hyundai's position in Germany to be strengthened through this Xcient hydrogen electric truck supply contract," adding, "Hyundai will successfully support the German government's carbon neutrality goals and actively work to expand its business into the European market based on this."

Following Switzerland and Germany, Hyundai plans to expand the supply of Xcient hydrogen electric trucks to other European countries such as Austria, Denmark, France, and the Netherlands in the future.