BEV vs FCEV: Hyundai-Kia explains why Mercedes, Tesla, and VW are wrong
Hans · Sep 8, 2021 03:50 PM
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At yesterday’s opening of the IAA 2021 Munich Auto Show, the Hyundai Motor Group (HMG, which includes Kia and Genesis) announced its Hydrogen Vision 2040 to make hydrogen fuel cells available for ‘Everyone, Everything and Everywhere.’
Unlike other car makers who are abandoning hydrogen, HMG is re-affirming its commitment to develop hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) alongside well Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs), with equal priority to both.
HMG also previewed its next generation hydrogen fuel cell power systems, which will go into an improved XCient FCEV truck in 2023. The new fuel cells are 50 percent cheaper than before, and are available in 100 kW (136 PS) and 200 kW (272 PS) configurations.
These fuel cell modules can also be stacked / combined like Lego blocks to produce up to MegaWatt-level outputs, thus making it suitable for power generation for cities and buildings.
The new fuel cell system is 50 percent cheaper than the one used in the current Hyundai Nexo
HMG also said it aims to become the first automaker to apply fuel cell systems to all commercial vehicle models by 2028.
Head of R&D Division, Dr. Albert Biermann confirmed that all future commercial vehicles from Hyundai will be either a BEV or an FCEV. However, the exact timeline to phase out combustion engines will differ from market to market, depending on local market conditions.
The dramatic 50 percent cost reduction from 2018, which HMG says is already cheaper by 98 percent since its first prototype in 2003, is the company’s answer to naysayers who say that FCEVs have no future because it’s too expensive.
HMG' driverless Trailer Drone concept. Fuel cell-powered, driven by e-Bogies on either ends, allowing it to negotiate very tight turns
HMG says that by 2030, its FCEV models will match the price of its BEV models.
Remember that unlike BEV-only strategy Tesla, Mercedes-Benz (cars) or Volkswagen Group – HMG sells both BEV (Ioniq 5, Kia EV6, Genesis GV60, Hyundai Porter II Electric) and FCEV (Hyundai Nexo, Hyundai Xcient) models, thus making it the industry’s only true adjudicator when debating the pros and cons of battery electric vehicles versus fuel cells (Toyota doesn't have a high volume BEV model yet).
Hyundai Nexo is one of only two series production FCEV passenger car on sale today, the other is the Toyota Mirai
Hydrogen fuel cells are less efficient, so why is Hyundai still betting on it?
Tesla’s Elon Musk says fuel cells are fool cells, because the idea of using electricity to extract hydrogen from water (green hydrogen, zero CO2, very short in supply) or natural gas (grey hydrogen, CO2 emitting, most common) so we can feed hydrogen into fuel cell stacks to generate electricity is, in Elon’s words, “incredibly dumb” and “mind-bogglingly stupid.”
Volkswagen Group’s CEO Herbert Diess echoed the same. He recently tweeted that a hydrogen car is proven to be not a solution and debates on fuel cells are a sham.
"Please listen to the science," said Diess.
However, all these companies’ criticisms towards FCEVs are tainted by their own vested interest in BEVs, because few companies can afford to develop both battery and fuel cell technology simultaneously and every company involved in BEVs needs government assistance / subsidy, and funding to roll out charging infrastructure. They don’t want these funds to go into supporting infrastructure for hydrogen.
Mercedes has confirmed that it will no longer invest in FCEVs for passenger cars. GLC F-Cell will be the last
The only other companies adopting this two-pronged BEV plus FCEV approach are Toyota and BMW. Daimler sits somewhere in between - Mercedes-Benz Passenger Cars AG is betting it all on BEVs but Daimler Trucks AG is still working on FCEVs, in partnership with AB Volvo.
When asked why the Hyundai Motor Group continues to show an unwavering faith in fuel cells when other carmakers have given up, Chairman Chung Eui Sun’s answer was very to-the-point, “Carbon neutrality is not possible without hydrogen,” while not wanting to stoop too low to point out his competitors’ folly.
Chairman Chung is the grandson of Hyundai founder Chung Ju Yung.
“The challenge of tackling climate change is just too complex for just one company, one country or even just one technology solution to achieve it,” he added.
The problem with renewable energy
In order to achieve carbon neutrality, fossil fuel power plants will have to be replaced by renewable energy like wind or solar power. Else, electric cars are just shifting the source of pollution from vehicle exhaust pipes to power plants.
Traditional fossil fuel power plants might be dirty but they are far more reliable and easier to scale up/down to meet changing demand, than renewable energy
However unlike a coal-fired or natural gas-burning power plant, you can’t make a wind or solar farm generate more power when electricity demand increases in summer / winter. What are you going to do? Dial up the sun? Do a rain dance to make the wind blow harder?
Renewable energy sources are highly unstable, affected by weather conditions.
Wind farms are clean but unreliable, highly dependent on weather conditions
Solving this requires complex energy storage systems, to store excess electricity, so the plant can fill in any gaps between electricity generation and demand.
The obvious solution would be to store excess electricity in batteries, but as it is the world’s battery manufacturing capacity is already struggling to keep up with the demand from xEVs (HEV, PHEV, BEV, FCEV), so to expect battery technology alone to solve climate change is, to borrow Elon Musk’s own words, ‘mind-bogglingly stupid.’
Shortage in minerals required to make batteries and limits in battery manufacturing capacity means renewable energy cannot accelerate fast enough, if it is to rely only on battery as energy storage. Source: Rystad Energy
Of course, there’s also the idea of repurposing discarded EV batteries as ‘power banks’ for solar and wind farms, but in reality this is a dead-end.
xEV batteries have a secondary use. Even though the energy capacity has dropped too low to be used in a car, it can still be used as a backup energy storage system.
xEV batteries come in too many different shapes, sizes, capacity, and battery chemistry, not to mention the different software to manage the cells. You can't hook up different xEV batteries from Toyota, Honda, Nissan, BMW, and expect them to work together.
The idea of giving a second-life to discarded EV batteries can only work within an environment controlled by the vehicle / battery manufacturer.
HMG is already testing such ESS (Energy Storage System) at their Ulsan plant but to scale it at a level that can support power plants in different parts of the world is just too naïve.
Hyundai's 2MWh ESS at the Ulsan plant. Discarded xEV batteries that are no longer fit for use in cars, are used as a giant power bank, charged by solar power, supplementing power from the grid.
And this is where hydrogen comes in. It also shows the scope of HMG's thinking. The Hyundai group is more than just about cars. It also builds trucks, ships, trains, ports, power plants, it basically built Korea from the ground up, so it thinks more like a nation-builder than just a car maker.
The basic concept behind fuel cells is too simple. So simple that it may seem rather stupid - using electricity to extract hydrogen, so we can use expensive fuel cells to generate electricity. Wait...what?
Elon Musk is right that it is mind-bogglingly stupid to use electricity to extract hydrogen so fuel cells can generate electricity, but this is exactly the reason why fuel cells can store excess electricity from renewable energy.
“A global energy transition is taking us away from fossil fuels to renewable energy. To accelerate this shift, we have to overcome constraints in renewable energy, such as storage and intermittency. We have long believed in the powerful role of hydrogen as a reliable and pragmatic solution to such limits. Hydrogen will help boost the use of renewable energy and tackle climate change. We are now working on our strategic roadmap Hydrogen Vision 2040. It involves a number of factors including government policies, environmental regulations, and natural environment of many countries.
"It is important to remember that fighting climate change and shifting to renewable energy will not be complete without hydrogen. No single company or private sector can do it alone. But Hyundai Motor Group could not take a backseat on such a pressing agenda so we decided to lead the change, which is critical to our sustainable future,” said Chung.
Electricity and hydrogen are like milk and cheese – two of the same
Dr. Ing. Kim Sae Hoon, Executive Vice-President at the Hyundai Motor Group and Head of Fuel Cells Centre likens electricity and hydrogen to milk and cheese.
Executive Vice-President Dr. Ing. Kim Sae Hoon is also Head of Fuel Cells Centre
“Nomads once preserve milk as cheese leftover from the summer and use it as a milk substitute during winter. When a renewable energy society is established, hydrogen will play a similar role to cheese, converting excess electricity generated by solar or wind power into hydrogen,” said Kim.
Hydrogen is more than just about cars, it can power and move the country, sometimes in ways more practical than battery-based tech
The way the Hyundai Motor Group sees it, both BEV and FCEV technology are needed.
However, FCEV technology won’t become mainstream if it’s limited only to commercial vehicles (which is the opinion of many car makers), so HMG will still promote FCEV passenger cars like the Nexo.
45 Xcient FCEV trucks are now on trial in Switzerland. They clock a cumulative total of 210k km of zero emission (except water) distance every month. Every truck's performance is remotely monitored by HMG, just like a Le Mans race car.
This is a vastly different opinion from Mercedes-Benz Cars AG, whose COO Markus Schäfer told WapCar.my earlier this week that FCEVs are not suitable for passenger cars (but it is for trucks), and that if Mercedes wants to be the best, it has to choose between BEV and FCEV, and to focus only on one, and BEV is clearly the one with a better potential.
Hyundai Xcient and Nexo. HMG doesn't believe in limiting FCEV tech only to trucks
Hyundai disagrees with this, for reasons mentioned earlier. It doesn't like to think in terms of what a certain technology, especially a nascent one, can or cannot do. All options have an equal chance to succeed.
So Hyundai presented the Vision FK high performance FCEV concept. The hydrogen-fueled sports car makes 680 PS and goes from 0-100 km/h in under 4 seconds.
Vision FK. Power electronics from Rimac, fuel cell stack from HMG
It features power electronics systems from Croatian electric hypercar maker Rimac, while the fuel cell technology is from Hyundai.
Hyundai also intends to use motorsports to further improve FCEV technology, with a slight twist. Earlier this year, it announced its entry into the EV-only Pure ETCR racing series, with the battery electric Hyundai Veloster N ETCR.
The electric Veloster N race car
The organization of Pure ETCR event is a comical irony on why Hyundai might be on the right path, and why the narrow-mindedness of Tesla fanatics is wrong (to them, everything done by 'legacy' automakers is related to some conspiracy by Big Oil).
Did anyone thought about how are they going to supply enough electricity to charge up an entire grid of EV race cars? Thought so…
Hyundai's HTWO fuel cell generator charges all the BEV race cars in Pure ETCR
Guessed who and what technology stepped in to solve it? Hyundai’s mobile fuel cell electricity generator.
To understand how stupid BEVs can be, look no further than Formula E
Nevermind about Pure ETCR, which only has 4 teams signed up. Look to Formula E, the F1-alternative that is supposed to promote electric vehicles.
Guess how Formula E cars are charged up before every race – with diesel generators. Oh the irony.
To be specific, an average Formula E race needs nine diesel generators, each with a 3,000 litres fuel tank. An unsightly mess of long and thick cables snaking from the generators into the pits characterized Formula E's behind-the-scenes. Sometimes, black soot and smelly diesel fumes blow over to the spectators' area.
Formula E cars are charged using diesel generators, so much for trying to promote clean energy. Image: AquelaMaquina
Formula E races are not hosted in far-away locations where power supply is lacking, but on street circuits, right at the city centre. Electricity is supposed to be plenty there. Tesla fanatics say electricity is more practical than hydrogen because it’s available everywhere and yet, Formula E cars need diesel generators.
Previously, Formula E partnered with Aquafuel, which supplies diesel generators modified to run on the energy company’s glycerine fuel, a CO2-neutral byproduct of biodiesel production, to generate electricity to charge the race cars. The partnership with Aquafuel has since ended.
Former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher said in 2020, "If you look at the diesel generators they (Formula E) use to charge their high performance batteries, then I almost guarantee that the overall carbon footprint of Formula 1 is better."
Even the FIA themselves have said that the arrangement is a step backwards and they are looking into portable fuel-cell generators as a solution, which is exactly what Hyundai is doing with Pure ETCR.
All Pure ETCR EV race cars are charged up using two Hyundai HTWO mobile fuel cell generators, which is based on the Hyundai Nexo’s powertrain.
All BEVs in Pure ETCR run on identical 'spec' electric power unit, charged by Hyundai fuel cells
On the question about whether will the Hyundai Motor Group look into a hydrogen-burning combustion engine, similar to the hydrogen-powered Corolla race car that Toyota President Akio Toyoda raced at the recent 2021 Fuji SUPER TEC 24 Hours Race, Fuel Cells Centre boss Kim said the company will not rule out any option.
This Corolla runs on hydrogen. It's not a fuel cell electric car, but a hydrogen burning 1.6-litre 3-cylinder engine. Toyota says there can be no carbon neutrality until we do something about the existing cars on the road. Converting combustion engines to run on synthetic, hydrogen-based fuels will deliver results faster than hoping for BEVs to replace all cars
“We will not say we won’t do this or that. If the use of a hydrogen engine will help support the hydrogen infrastructure, it will promote the use of hydrogen. I think we have to have an open mind, and our engineers are also thinking about these kind of things. We will not take one technology (only). We have to use all methods we can, all devices. You know, we don’t have a lot of time. We only have maybe 30 years left to be carbon neutral. So let’s try everything that we can do,” said Kim.
Kia EV6
Whichever way the BEV vs FCEV debate turns out, the Hyundai Motor Group will still win.
As it is, its Ioniq 5, Kia EV6, and Genesis GV60 are no poorer than BEV-only competitors' products. And its Nexo and Xcient truck are no poorer than Toyota's Mirai and Sora bus.
Ioniq 5 supports both 400V and 800V charging, no additional hardware required
As for companies who have concluded that FCEVs are a dead-end, they better be super good at predicting the future.
Over 15 years of experience in automotive, from product planning, to market research, to print and digital media. Garages a 6-cylinder manual RWD but buses to work.
