Hyundai XCIENT achieves new record, proves long-term reliability on Swiss roads

Hyundai’s hydrogen truck clocks 10 million km total driving distance in Switzerland.

The Hyundai XCIENT fuel cell electric heavy-duty truck achieved a new record, recently surpassing a cumulative driving distance of 10 million kilometers (6.2+ million miles) in Swiss fleet usage. The company achieved this feat in only three years and eight months, since the hydrogen truck started its fleet operations in Switzerland in October 2020.

This marks a significant milestone.

According to a recent Hyundai Motors news release, surpassing the cumulative 10-million km driving distance in Swiss fleet usage is a testament to the world-class hydrogen fuel cell tech’s long-term reliability.

This milestone is significant not only because it’s evidence of the long-term reliability of the

Hyundai XCIENT, but because the achievement is expected to contribute to lowering carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. This reduction in CO2 emissions is compared to the amount of carbon that is absorbed every year by an estimated 700,000 pine trees.

Comparatively, a fleet of standard diesel trucks emits about 6,200 tons of CO2 over an accumulated distance of 10 km.

Switzerland has 48 Hyundai XCIENT trucks in operation.

Each of these hydrogen trucks is powered by two 90-kilowatt (kW) fuel cell systems, a total power of 180 kW. They’re also equipped with a 350-kW e-motor, which delivers a maximum range of more than 400 km (248.5 mi).

What’s more, all Hyundai XCIENT fuel cell heavy-duty trucks operating in the nation use only green hydrogen. This means, in addition to no carbon emissions from the exhaust pipe, no carbon is emitted during the production of the hydrogen that’s used by the truck. The use of the green H2 contributes to creating an eco-friendly hydrogen value chain in Europe.

The milestone helps Hyundai to continuously improve hydrogen vehicle tech.

This milestone is also beneficial for Hyundai because it can analyze the trucks data in terms of:

• Mileage
• Hydrogen consumption
• Fuel cell stack performance

With this data, Hyundai Motors can continue to improve its hydrogen fuel cell technology and apply it to various other kinds of vehicles.

Supporting more than H2 vehicles.

Beyond supplying the Hyundai XCIENT fuel cell trucks to Switzerland, the South Korean automotive giant is also supporting and activity taking part in creating a commercial hydrogen ecosystem. An ecosystem that includes the entire production value chain, charging infrastructure and consumption of hydrogen.

Presently, the XCIENT truck has been deployed in 10 countries. Beyond Switzerland, these include Korea, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Israel, UAE, Saudi Arabia, New Zealand, and the US.