Hyundai Motor invests in hydrogen tech companies overseas to lower costs

Seeking to lower the cost of manufacturing fuel cell electric vehicles and of producing and storing hydrogen, Hyundai Motor will make strategic investments in three companies in Europe and in the Middle East and pursue technical cooperation, the company said Wednesday.

Hyundai Motor has agreed to work with Impact Coatings AB of Sweden, a supplier of PVD-based coating solutions for fuel cells; H2Pro of Israel, a startup that developed an electrochemical, thermally active chemical (E-TAC) water-splitting technology; and GRZ Technologies of Switzerland, a company with expertise in hydrogen energy storage.

Hyundai’s partnerships with the three companies are aimed at lowering the costs of fuel cell stacks, dubbed the heart of hydrogen-powered vehicles, as well as eco-friendly methods of hydrogen production and technology to store the energy source efficiently.

With Impact Coatings AB, Hyundai will jointly develop coating technology for metal bipolar plates, a key component of FCEVs, using ceramics instead of pricey gold to prevent the plates from corroding.

Hyundai is making additional investment in H2Pro, the company said, with the goal of developing a hydrogen refilling station that also produces energy at the same time. The Israeli startup’s E-TAC water-splitting technology produces hydrogen instead of a separator and requires 20 percent less energy than other production methods. The South Korean carmaker announced its first investment in H2Pro last year through a startup incubator it launched in Tel Aviv.

Hyundai will also push for the commercialization of hydrogen infrastructure with GRZ Technologies’ hydrogen storage technology, which stores hydrogen more safely at lower pressure with higher density.

The carmaker is also working with small- and medium-sized companies in Korea to build hydrogen production infrastructure. It plans to inject 7.6 trillion won in 124 companies by 2030.

By Cho Chung-un (christory@heraldcorp.com)