Hyundai Motor Group has been on a battery-electric automotive roll of late, highlighted by a newly introduced EV battery three way partnership to assist its forthcoming megafactory in Georgia. Nonetheless, the Korean automaker remains to be decided to make gas cell vehicles occur. The newest improvement is the gas cell hybrid electrical N Imaginative and prescient 74 sports activities automotive, a riff on the corporate’s iconic 1974 Pony Coupe Idea automotive. It might be going into manufacturing quickly — or not, because the case could also be.
Which Got here First, The Gasoline Cell Pony Automobile Or The Cybertruck?
Earlier than we get into the tech particulars of the N Imaginative and prescient 74, let’s check out the distinctive styling. Hyundai attributes the N Imaginative and prescient 74 design inspiration to the Italian designer Giorgetto Giugiaro, who created the modern, futuristic look of the 1974 Pony Coupe Idea automotive again within the twentieth century.
Check out Giugiaro’s 1974 model:
This 1974 Hyundai Pony Coupe idea automotive supplied the design inspiration for Hyundai’s new N Imaginative and prescient 74 gas cell automotive (picture courtesy of Hyundai Motor Group through prnewsire.com).
Does that resemble a Tesla Cybertruck? Simply asking. If in case you have any ideas about that, drop us a be aware within the remark thread.
It’s possible you’ll discover one apparent distinction proper off the bat. The B-Pillar, which is the vertical assist that sometimes stands simply to the rear of the motive force’s seat, is virtually a no-show within the Cybertruck. In distinction, the brand new N Imaginative and prescient 74 sports activities a strong B Pillar in homage to the unique 1974 design.
The Hyundai N Imaginative and prescient 74 Gasoline Cell Automobile
Apart from partially sharing a design aesthetic, the Hyundai N Imaginative and prescient 74 and the Cybertruck are each electrical automobiles. That’s the place the similarities finish. The Cybertruck deploys a battery pack for locomotion, whereas the N Imaginative and prescient 74 incorporates gas cell know-how for added propulsion and improved efficiency.
“Energy is supplied by an 85 kW hydrogen gas cell stack on the entrance, a 62 kWh lithium-ion battery between the motive force and the passenger, and two 2.1 kg hydrogen tanks on the rear to supply a driving distance of almost 600 km,” Hyundai defined in a press launch dated Could 20.
The N Imaginative and prescient started to take form a number of years in the past and it slipped underneath the CleanTechnica radar. We caught wind of it after Hyundai featured the gas cell automotive within the firm’s debut look on the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este basic and prototype automotive present earlier in Could, the place it created fairly a stir.
The N Imaginative and prescient is a part of Hyundai’s “Rolling Labs” sequence, which Hyundai described as its platform for testing and verifying superior applied sciences. In different phrases, it’s apparently not heading into manufacturing as such. Hyundai emphasised that the Rolling Labs sequence is geared toward future manufacturing fashions, in assist of its “ambition to develop into a pacesetter within the zero-tailpipe-emissions future.”
Nonetheless, Hyundai positive appeared up for teasing a launch. “N Imaginative and prescient 74 is a fruits of Hyundai’s heritage design, state-of-the-art know-how and N model’s emotional excessive efficiency, representing Hyundai N’s long-term imaginative and prescient for a sustainable high-performance future past electrification,” the corporate enthused.
Don’t Maintain Your Breath…
The combined indicators from Hyundai could possibly be behind a rumor that cropped up just a few weeks in the past, when the Korean publication Cash Right now scooped information that the N Imaginative and prescient 74 is heading for manufacturing.
The worldwide automotive media shortly picked up on the story. One consultant instance was Automobile and Driver, which reported that “one of many coolest idea vehicles in current historical past could possibly be making its technique to manufacturing.”
“The Hyundai N Imaginative and prescient 74 idea was an prompt hit when it was revealed final 12 months as a part of the automaker’s ‘N Day’ occasion held in South Korea. A report at this time by a Korean information outlet claims Hyundai has greenlit the idea for manufacturing, and that the corporate will make an official announcement on Could 27,” Automobile and Driver added.
Automobile and Driver cautioned that the Cash Right now article didn’t embrace strong sourcing, and Could 27 has come and gone, so anybody excited by the prospect of a manufacturing model of the N Imaginative and prescient 74 should wait and see what occurs.
…Until You’re In The Market For A Gasoline Cell Truck
If Hyundai can pull off a manufacturing model of the N Imaginative and prescient 74, there nonetheless stays the query of promoting it. That’s a very good query. Gasoline cell vehicles are starting to edge into numerous markets across the globe, however the going has been gradual, particularly right here within the US. Hyundai has been trying to get a leg up by way of a collaboration with the US Division of Power, however to this point not a lot has come of it.
Trying past sedans, although, the image seems a bit extra promising for US gross sales of gas cell EVs. Honda, for instance, is banking on a brand new gas cell electrical hybrid SUV for the US market, primarily based on its common CR-V. The plan is to incorporate a plug-in function for battery-powered driving along with the gas cell.
Honda seems to be treading fastidiously. The gas cell hybrid might be produced at its small-batch manufacturing facility in Marysville, Ohio, indicating that the corporate could also be eyeballing the fleet market and luxurious markets as an alternative of attempting to attraction to on a regular basis drivers.
In the meantime, Hyundai is on the point of roll its XCIENT gas cell truck into the US. If all goes based on plan, the US would be the sixth marketplace for the XCIENT since Hyundai first launched it in 2020. Hyundai calculates that truck drivers in Switzerland, Germany, Israel, Korea, and New Zealand have logged greater than 4 million miles on the automobile to this point.
“It’s the solely heavy-duty gas cell electrical mannequin with a confirmed document of real-world software and technological reliability,” Hyundai emphasizes.
Hyundai higher not let the grass develop underneath its ft. Exercise within the heavy responsibility truck space has been beginning to decide up within the US, with even the on-again, off-again US electrical truck startup Nikola doubtlessly main the cost.
What About The Hydrogen?
In previous years, the auto business needed to depend on pure fuel as the first supply of hydrogen for gas cells, which solid a depressing cloud of unsustainability over the know-how.
The current emergence of a marketplace for inexperienced hydrogen from water supplies gas cell stakeholders with a possibility to interrupt free from fossil sources. That assumes provide can catch as much as demand, together with demand from metal making and different industries in addition to transportation.
That is still to be seen, however hold a watch out for the newest developments in new “synthetic leaf” analysis that might assist resolve the inexperienced hydrogen provide problem, ultimately.
No extra Trainwreck Twitter. Discover me on Spoutible: @TinaMCasey or LinkedIn @TinaMCasey or Mastodon @Casey or Submit: @tinamcasey
Images (each cropped):
1. Hyundai “Rolling Laboratory” N Imaginative and prescient 74 gas cell automotive courtesy of Hyundai.
2. 1974 Hyundai Pony Coupe Idea automotive courtesy of Hyundai through prnewswire.
Join day by day information updates from CleanTechnica on e-mail. Or observe us on Google Information!
Have a tip for CleanTechnica, wish to promote, or wish to counsel a visitor for our CleanTech Speak podcast? Contact us right here.
Former Tesla Battery Skilled Main Lyten Into New Lithium-Sulfur Battery Period — Podcast:
I do not like paywalls. You do not like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Right here at CleanTechnica, we applied a restricted paywall for some time, nevertheless it at all times felt unsuitable — and it was at all times powerful to resolve what we should always put behind there. In concept, your most unique and greatest content material goes behind a paywall. However then fewer folks learn it! We simply do not like paywalls, and so we have determined to ditch ours.
Sadly, the media enterprise remains to be a tricky, cut-throat enterprise with tiny margins. It is a endless Olympic problem to remain above water and even maybe — gasp — develop. So …
In case you like what we do and wish to assist us, please chip in a bit month-to-month through PayPal or Patreon to assist our crew do what we do!
Thanks!
