The automotive industry is getting closer to boost hydrogen
In the wake of the collaboration between Toyota and BMW, we have learned that General Motors and Hyundai will be working together to explore new avenues of collaboration, including hydrogen.
The enigmatic press release of September 12, published in the same terms by the two manufacturers, refers to a collaboration in clean energies, including ‘hydrogen technologies’. This is just one of a vast array of themes, including models they could potentially produce together (cars, commercial vehicles), engines and electrics, as well as raw materials. The watchword is cost reduction. The aim is to achieve economies of scale.
Hyundai and GM (with Honda) each produce fuel cells on their own. This collaboration could potentially involve fuel cell components, storage, and perhaps production as well. Hyundai has already communicated its vision of large-scale, low-cost hydrogen production on several occasions. At the CES, it announced that its HTWO structure would henceforth address hydrogen production, storage and transport.
Hyundai and Toyota CEOs to meet in Korea
The Korean press is also referring to a meeting scheduled for the end of October in Seoul between the CEOs of Hyundai and Toyota. The purpose of the meeting will be to explore collaboration in the hydrogen ecosystem. Toyota had already announced in February its intention to develop electrolysers with Chiyoda. More recently, Toyota Tsuho’s European subsidiary signed an agreement with German industrial gases firm Messer SE to launch a joint venture – SympH2ony – to supply hydrogen to fleet management vehicles.
This is not the first time that players in the automotive industry have come together to boost a technology. In addition to possible cooperative ventures, such as the latest announcement between BMW and Toyota, to reduce the cost of fuel cells (as GM and Honda have already done), we could imagine a broader agreement to lay the foundations of a low-carbon hydrogen production ecosystem.
Article written by Laurent Meillaud and translated by Logan King
