Hyundai Nexo fuel-cell electric vehicle being considered for India

Rohit Paradkar Updated: December 05, 2019, 11:57 AM IST

Sustainable mobility is a matter of discussion all across the automotive board and India is partaking in it too, to an extent, with decisions like the BS-VI norms and the vision to go all-electric by 2030. Hyundai India for one has been making quite a bit of wave in this department. The launch of the Kona was one of the moves that have put the carmaker's efforts towards sustainable mobility in the limelight and further boost has come through with certain government officials and ministers choosing to move away from fossil-fuel-powered cars and making the Kona their daily driver.

Hyundai has now announced that will it foray further into the idea of offering alternative propulsion solutions for the Indian market, by testing the feasibility of hydrogen fuel-cell technology. The Hyundai Nexo is the car of choice for this endeavour. The Hyundai Nexo was first showcased at the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), and recently the Nexo was in the news for breaking the world record for the longest distance travelled by a hydrogen-powered vehicle on a single tankful.

The Nexo uses a 40kW lithium-ion battery pack and a 95kW hydrogen fuel-cell stack for a combined battery output of 135kW, which feeds the juice to a 120kW electric motor that drives the front wheels and is good for 163PS of power and 395Nm of torque. The hydrogen fuel tanks have a capacity of 156.6 litres. The Nexo has an estimated range of around 570km.

Globally the Nexo FCEV replaced the Tucson FCEV and in terms of the sizing, it is marginally larger the Tucson too. Hyundai will use the same, commercially available Nexo to run its feasibility study in India. Availability of hydrogen fuel-stations is a matter of concern globally and it won't be any different in India, and that will also be one of the most important aspects of the feasibility study. Hyundai's vast network of dealerships can certainly play important participation in this department, as is the case of the battery-electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

Hyundai's plan of studying the feasibility of a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle doesn't seem like a marketing stunt though. Sources close to the brand confirm that the study has been happening ever since the Ioniq was shown to the Indian audience and it is now time to start the road tests for the technology in India. If launched, the Hyundai Nexo FCEV's superior technology could push its asking price into Rs 45-55 lakh bracket.