Hyundai Motor Group Executive Vice Chairman Chung Ui-sun.

Hyundai Motor has become the world’s first automaker to mass produce large-sized hydrogen electric trucks.

The automaker achieved its first exports to Switzerland to secure an upper hand in the global eco-friendly commercial vehicle market.

Hyundai Motor sent a freighter carrying 10 units of its hydrogen electric trailer truck, named “XCIENT Fuel Cell Truck” bound for Switzerland from Gwangyang Port, Jeollanam-do, on July 6.

Global automakers have mostly produced sample hydrogen electric truck prototypes for exhibition at fairs. It is the first time that Hyundai Motor has established a mass production system to put hydrogen electric trucks on the market.

The 10 XCIENT fuel cell trucks will be delivered to Hyundai Hydrogen Mobility (HHM), which was established as the joint venture between Hyundai Motor Company and H2 Energy last September.

A combined 40 XCIENT fuel cell trucks will be exported by the end of this year, and exports will rise to 1,600 units by 2025.

The XCIENT fuel cell truck with a capacity of 34 tons can run about 400 km per charging of eight to 20 minutes. The hydrogen electric trucks will be used to transport food for logistics companies in Switzerland.

With the exporting of hydrogen electric trucks, Hyundai Motor is evaluated to have established itself as a full-fledged global eco-friendly automaker capable of mass producing passenger cars to large commercial vehicles.

Starting with Norway in 2025, Europe is seeking to restrict new sales of internal combustion engine cars using gasoline and diesel.

Large commercial vehicles discharge more greenhouse gas emissions than passenger cars, but the former has failed to find new eco-friendly power engines.

Ten units of its hydrogen electric trailer truck, named “XCIENT Fuel Cell Truck,” produced by Hyundai Motor, are loaded into a caargo ship to be exported to Switzerland from Gwangyang Port, Jeollanam-do, on July 6. (Photos: HMG)

In particular, for hydrogen electric trucks, sufficient infrastructure is a challenging task. Even though up to 4 million hydrogen electric units are forecast to hit the streets by 2030, the opening of the global hydrogen electric car market is too slow.

Hyundai Motor’s sole competitor in the hydrogen electric car segment is Nikola, which had made its debut on NASDAQ in a reverse merger with VectoIQ. Capitalization of Nikola surpassed that of Ford four days after the former’s listing on NASDAQ.

With a focus on the production of XCIENT fuel cell trucks, Hyundai Motor plans to make a foray into the global hydrogen electric truck market.

The automaker plans to tap the European hydrogen electric truck market.

With the exporting of XCIENT fuel cell trucks to Switzerland, next target countries are mostly likely to be Northern European countries, including Germany, the Netherlands, and Norway.

Given the fragile, early-stage market in which logistics companies are burdensome for costs of introducing hydrogen electric trucks, Hyundai Motor has released a kind rental mobility service of charging fares according to car usage.

In Switzerland, seven infrastructure facilities will be built this year, and the number will rise to 80 by 2025. Countries are predicted to scramble for building hydrogen electric car infrastructure networks.

Hyundai Motor plans to focus on the expanding of the range of hydrogen electric trucks, including the one capable of traveling more than 1,000 km on a single charge.

In Korea, aged buses and trucks in the public sector are replaced with hydrogen electric trucks.

Lee In-cheol, head of Hyundai Motor’s commercial vehicle business, “Hyundai Motor will spearhead the transformation of the ecosystem of the global eco-friendly commercial vehicle market by entering not only Europe, but also North Americas and China.”