Hyundai partners Iveco to sell hydrogen fuel cell buses in Europe

Hyundai has partnered with truck and bus maker Iveco Group to provide hydrogen fuel-cell systems for buses in Europe. The latter join hands with Hyundai Motor's HTWO to procure cells for hydrogen-powered buses. Hyundai and Iveco earlier this year signed a preliminary agreement to explore a partnership based on shared vehicle technology, joint sourcing and mutual supply. Iveco, however, has not provided any financial details of the agreement.

Iveco's bus business head Domenico Nucera said the company has plans to manufacture more than 3,000 zero and low-emission buses in the coming years starting from 2023. “If the market feedback is positive, our aim is to proceed with an annual rate of 1,000 units," Nucera was quoted in a Reuters report. The company has also signed an MoU with US-based shared mobility company Via, for future cooperation in public transport and digital services for buses.

A last year's report shared that Hyundai Motor plans to bring in hydrogen-electric trucks. The report also stated that the market share of Hyundai's HEVs will get strong in the coming years. After unveiling Hydrogen Vision 2040, Hyundai paused its hydrogen powertrain technology development program. Hyundai had been in the process to develop hydrogen fuel cells for the propulsion of its vehicles in the future. Hyundai's premium arm Genesis has also been working on a hydrogen car for more than a year and the project may come to life in 2025.

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Hyundai paused its development program as an internal audit revealed that the company was unable to meet the original target in terms of reduction in production costs. This along with reasons such as technical issues, lack of marketability and the underdeveloped charging infrastructure led to a halt in Hyundai's plans of developing hydrogen powertrains. However, the automaker might restart its program once the conditions become favourable.