|
 That will change next year when Hyundai starts selling a Tucson
SUV powered by a hydrogen fuel cell. It will be the first mass-market vehicle of
its type to be sold or leased in the U.S.
"These things are now ready for prime time," John Krafcik, Hyundai's North
American CEO, said last week. His company plans to announce details of the new
Tucson on Wednesday at the Los Angeles Auto Show.
Even as the industry focused on battery-powered and hybrid cars, automakers such
as Hyundai, Honda and Toyota kept up research on fuel cells. Now they appear to
have conquered obstacles such as high costs, safety concerns and a lack of
filling stations. These vehicles could help the companies meet stricter future
fuel-economy standards.
Automakers have been dabbling in hydrogen-powered cars since the 1960s. General
Motors announced a test fleet of hydrogen-powered Chevy Equinoxes in the
mid-2000s, and Honda leased about two-dozen FCX Clarity models for $600 per
month starting in 2005.
President George W. Bush allocated $1.2 billion for hydrogen research and said
in his 2003 State of the Union address: "The first car driven by a child born
today could be powered by hydrogen and pollution free." But the program was
largely scrapped by the Obama administration, which focused more on
battery-powered vehicles.
Hyundai now is making Bush's forecast come true, beating other auto companies to
the mass market with Tucsons that have electric motors powered by a stack of
hydrogen fuel cells. Hyundai plans to start selling the vehicles in Southern
California and eventually spread to other areas as filling stations are built.
Hyundai says it has overcome safety and storage issues with a rear-mounted tank
that has passed numerous crash tests without incident. As for filling stations,
the California Air Resources Board says there currently are nine open to the
public in the state. Legislators recently allocated about $100 million, or $20
million a year, to build 100 more.
Also at the Los Angeles show, Honda Motor Co. is scheduled to
show off a fuel-cell concept vehicle, which it says hints at the aerodynamic
design of the next generation fuel-cell vehicle to be launched in 2015. Further
details weren't available.
[to top of second column] |
Toyota Motor Corp. is scheduled to unveil its own concept fuel-cell
vehicle at this week's Tokyo Motor Show. That one also is likely for
distribution in the mass market in 2015.
General Motors continues work on its fuel-cell vehicles.
The largest U.S. automaker, which has spent a lot of time and
resources on battery-powered cars such as the Chevrolet Volt, has no
fuel-cell vehicles currently in its new product pipeline, spokesman
Dan Flores said Monday. He said more work needs to be done on cost
and infrastructure to make the cars viable.
Hyundai is expected to introduce prices and details of how its cars
will be sold or leased at the Los Angeles show. Automakers usually
offer leases when they put new technology on the market.
Hydrogen cars likely will help automakers meet new goals from eight
key states to put more zero-emissions cars on the road. The states,
including California and New York, pledged late last month to work
together to put 3.3 million battery-powered cars, plug-in hybrids
and other clean-burning vehicles on the roads in those states by
2025. That's more than 15 times as many zero-emission vehicles
projected to be in use in the entire U.S. by 2015.
The other states in the pact are Massachusetts, Maryland, Oregon,
Connecticut, Rhode Island and Vermont. The eight states together
represent about 23 percent of the U.S. auto market.
[Associated
Press; TOM KRISHER]
Copyright 2013 The Associated
Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
