Hyundai Motor to expand hydrogen business beyond automobile

SEOUL - Hyundai Motor, South Korea's biggest carmaker, said Tuesday that it will expand hydrogen business beyond the automotive transportation sector in accordance with the global transition to clean energy.

Hyundai announced its long-term roadmap to speed up the development of a hydrogen society, unveiling plans to boost its annual fuel-cell systems production capacity to 700,000 units by 2030 that includes 500,000 units for fuel-cell electric vehicles (FCEVs).

The fuel-cell system involves fuel-cell stack and relevant parts. Hyundai's fuel-cell system, which combines hydrogen fuel with oxygen taken from the air to produce electricity, emits only water as a by-product and helps purify polluted air.

Hyundai aimed to expand hydrogen business beyond the automotive sector by supplying its fuel-cell systems to other manufacturers of drones, vessels, rolling stocks and forklifts as well as automobiles.

It said demand for fuel-cell systems was expected to emerge quickly in the sectors beyond transportation, such as power generation and storage systems.

"We will expand our role beyond the automotive transportation sector and play a pivotal role in the global society's transition to clean energy by helping make hydrogen an economically viable energy source," said Chung Eui-sun, executive vice chairman of Hyundai Motor Group that includes automotive brands Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors.

Hyundai planned to increase its FCEV production capacity to 500,000 units a year by 2030, including passenger and commercial vehicles. Global demand for FCEVs was forecast to rise to about 2 million units a year by 2030, according to Hyundai's estimate.

To meet the demand, Hyundai along with its suppliers will invest around 7.6 trillion won ($6.7 billion) in research and development and facility expansion by 2030. It was expected to create some 51,000 jobs in the process, the company said.