Hyundai CEO John Krafcik says Subaru has an unquestionably strong lineup, he thinks the Ford Fusion is an unqualified success, and he even gave props to your author’s tie during a recent conversation. But Krafcik doesn’t have much positive to say about battery-electric vehicles. He doesn’t like the excess weight that comes with batteries, he doesn’t like their limited range and long recharge times, and he thinks that the cost of recharging them at home is only going to go up as more households adopt the technology. He is, however, smitten with hydrogen, and the prospect of selling Americans—or more specifically, Californians—on the technology. Enter the hydrogen-powered 2015 Hyundai Tucson Fuel Cell.
The Tucson Fuel Cell isn’t anything earth-shatteringly new, though. Hyundai sells the ix35 Fuel Cell—which is identical to the American model debuting at the Los Angeles auto show in every way save for its name—in Europe. The Tucson-badged model uses the same in-house-developed fuel-cell stack, lithium-polymer battery, and hydrogen tank capable of carrying 12.3 pounds of the gas as does its Euro-market counterpart. It also delivers the same 134 horsepower and 221 lb-ft of torque by means of the same electric motor.
The Tucson Fuel Cell’s hydrogen tank and lithium-polymer battery gobble underbody space, so there is less room for passengers and cargo when compared to standard U.S.-spec Tucsons. So while overall length actually increases by 0.4 inch, second-row legroom diminishes by 0.6 inch, and cargo capacity drops by 1.9 cubic feet.
Hyundai says that its hydrogen-powered Tucson will be capable of traveling up to 300 miles between fills, a process that the brand assures us will take less than 10 minutes—once you’ve found a hydrogen filling station, that is. According to the California Fuel Cell Partnership, there are currently just eight filling stations in metro Los Angeles and one in the Bay Area that can serve the public, but the California legislature will provide $20 million annually over the next “several years” for the construction of additional locations, the first 19 of which will be located largely in San Francisco and L.A.
The current lack of infrastructure should keep Hyundai’s fuel expenditures within reason, as the near 400-mile distance between San Francisco and L.A. means that operators of the Tucson Fuel Cell CUVs will be confined to their respective metro areas. Krafcik says that a home-fueling system is not something that’s being considered at the moment.
The 2015 Hyundai Tucson Fuel Cell will be leased from four select California dealerships starting as early as April. Leases will cost owners $499 a month for 36 months, but that includes all maintenance and (unlimited) fuel costs.
Through 2016, Hyundai plans to build at least 1000 hydrogen Tucsons annually alongside the standard crossovers at the automaker’s primary production facility in Ulsan, South Korea. If Krafcik’s company can move all those hydrogen crossovers in the next few years despite the distinct lack of hydrogen pumps at most of today’s corner gas stations, he and Hyundai both will deserve a few plaudits of their own.
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