First Hydrogen-Powered Hyundai Tucson Delivered in US
Hyundai customers in California are getting the first crack at owning a hydrogen-powered crossover from the South Korean company.
Deliveries of the next-generation green machines has started, the automaker said today. Tim Bush of Newport Beach, Calif. took delivery of the first mass-produced hydrogen fuel cell vehicle from the brand in North America. Customers including Bush are being offered a $499 per month lease that includes unlimited hydrogen fuel for three years. Fleets of the fuel-cell Tucson are already in place in both Korea and Europe.
Toyota and Honda are both also planning to market hydrogen-powered vehicles to Californians 2015. The effort isn’t new for Honda, which offered its FCX Clarity hydrogen car there since 2008. The advantage fuel cell vehicles offer is that they offer re-fueling times that are roughly the same as a gasoline-powered car. Limited availability of fueling infrastructure currently curtails that advantage.
The California government is working to add the first 100 stations and is providing $46.6 million in grants for hydrogen fuel stations that will help manufacturers put the infrastructure in place. Currently there are 10 in the state and 16 more being developed. That number is expected to reach 50 by 2016 when the volume of hydrogen vehicles is also expected to have grown significantly.
Luke is an energetic automotive journalist who spends his time covering industry news and crawling the internet for the latest breaking story. When he isn't in the office, Luke can be found obsessively browsing used car listings, drinking scotch at his favorite bar and dreaming of what to drive next, though the list grows a lot faster than his bank account. He's always on <A title="@lukevandezande on Twitter" href="http://twitter.com/lukevandezande">Twitter</A> looking for a good car conversation. Find Luke on <A title="@lukevandezande on Twitter" href="http://twitter.com/lukevandezande">Twitter</A> and <A title="Luke on Google+" href="http://plus.google.com/112531385961538774338?rel=author">Google+</A>.
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Everything needs to start somewhere. If everyone chips in a little to get the infrastructure in place you could start to weed out many gas and diesel vehicles.