Hyundai Motor Co.’s XCIENT hydrogen fuel cell trucks will be running the roads of California as part of two publicly funded projects to improve air quality in the region.
The company said on July 26 that it has won $22 million in grants from the California Air Resources Board (CARB) and the California Energy Commission (CEC), and another $7 million in grants from the Almeda County Transportation Commission and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District to operate 30 units of its Class 8 XCIENT Fuel Cell trucks, starting from the second quarter of 2023.
“We are proud to fund this hallmark deployment of 30 hydrogen fuel cell electric trucks and improve the air quality in Northern California,” said Hannon Rasool, Deputy Director of Fuels and Transportation Division at the CEC.
California Air Resources Board regulates mobile sources of air pollution, including trucks. (Courtesy of CARB) Hyundai Motor added that it also plans to establish a high-capacity hydrogen refueling station in Oakland, California to support as many as 50 trucks with an average fill of 30 kilograms.
Hyundai Glovis America, a logistics service provider, will be the fleet operator of these trucks. Hyundai Motor added that Macquarie’s Specialized and Asset Finance unit will finance the trucks through a lease to the operator.
Hyundai Motor was also awarded a $500,000 grant from the South Coast Air Quality Management District (South Coast AQMD) to run demonstrations of two heavy-duty models of its Class XCIENT Fuel Cell trucks in Southern California.
Hyundai Motor and its fleet partner will kick off the demo from August to test the heavy-duty models for long-haul freight operations between warehouses in Southern California for a 12-month period.
“We look forward to seeing this fuel cell project from Hyundai come to life. The long-haul zero-emission trucks will be key to reducing emissions and providing immediate benefits to our air and our communities,” said Ben J. Benoit, the chair of South Coast AQMD’s Governing Board.
Hyundai Motor said that it is also currently in talks with a number of logistics and commercial companies interested in leveraging its hydrogen technology for their freight services in the US.
“Winning multiple projects from the US state governments means that our hydrogen technology is now highly recognized by the country’s public sector at large,” said a Hyundai Motor official.
Write to Hyung-kyu Kim at khk@hankyung.com Daniel Cho edited this article.
