Hyundai introduces fuel cell crossover in California
Well it’s happening. If you’re in California and want to lease a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle, it can be had from Hyundai for $499 a month and $2999 down. That’ll get you a hydrogen fuel cell version of the crossover Hyundai Tucson, though the company is working on a fuel cell sedan for 2015. The lease also includes fuel and maintenance, making it a pretty good deal. Hyundai is building the Tucson in South Korea though the company says it’ll begin U.S. production in February.
Fueling infrastructure not to mention the fact that hydrogen fuel is produced from natural gas have been two of my main issues with fuel cells, as well as the high costs of fuel tanks. Though the range for these vehicles is a step above battery powered vehicles. The hydrogen fuel cell Tucson will get 300 miles to a tank, more than even the high end Model S gets. It’ll get rolled out at 4 Southern California dealerships.
I have to wonder if at the current pricing Hyundai is losing money on the car, but at least the company will get valuable learning from the rollout. Now to figuring out a way to produce hydrogen fuel from a not carbon source…..