First Hyundai ix35 FCEV Hydrogen-powered cars delivered

Hyundai has delivered the first 15 hydrogen-powered ix35 FCEV vehicles to the City of Copenhagen to be used in their municipal fleet.

Hyundai has been threatening to deliver the first production hydrogen-powered ix35s in Europe for a while, and now its finally happened.

Fifteen 1×35 FCEVs have been delivered to the City of Copenhagen during the opening ceremony for the first hydrogen refuelling station in Denmark and will be used by the City of Copenhagen as part of their municipal fleet, and demonstrate in the process that FCEVs are a practical proposition.

Hyundai has been deploying prototypes of the ix35 FCEv across Europe for the last couple of years as it works to raise awareness of the technology and drive the impetus for a pan-European hydrogen refuelling network, with EU policy makers having access to the ix35 FCEV and 100 European businesses getting a chance to play at a recent event in Berlin.

But now the FCEV goes out in to the real world to be used in Copenhagen and help the city fulfil its (misguided, but that’s not the point) mission to be carbon-neutral by 2015.

Byung Kwon Rhim, President of Hyundai Europe, said:

Hyundai Motor is committed to hydrogen as the fuel of the future for Europe.  Delivering assembly-line produced ix35 Fuel Cell is evidence that we have a realistic solution to the region’s sustainable mobility needs.

It’s great that the Hyundai ix35 FCEV suits the needs of Copenhagen with its zero tail pipe emissions, but the more important point is proving that a power plant for a car that doesn’t rely on oil is viable – and as practical as an ICE car – in the real world.

And that’s a game changer.