Hydrogen-powered vehicles haven't really caught on as an eco-friendly alternative means of transportation. Hyundai, however, hopes to solve this problem with greater investment in technology and its new hydrogen-powered SUV concept called .
Hyundai announced that it plans to start production of the hydrogen SUV in the first half of next year. The Initium can travel approximately 404 miles on a single fill-up and can also run on electric power as a backup which can be recharged from a home power supply. The vehicle will also make its public debut at the Los Angeles Auto Show and Auto Guangzhou in China next month. It has not yet been confirmed where the cars will be available when they go on sale, so a US release is not guaranteed.
The Initium may only be a prototype for now, but Hyundai appears committed to quickly bringing its new hydrogen vehicle to drivers, even if the fuel source hasn't moved as far toward widespread acceptance as electric options. The South Korean automaker plans to invest $4 billion to develop its hydrogen vehicle technology and infrastructure to meet its goal of full carbon neutrality by 2045 with cars like the Initium and introduced last year.
Hydrogen may be an efficient alternative to gasoline, but it still has a ways to go to be competitive with electric vehicles (and that's without acknowledging the continued prevalence of gasoline-powered cars). There are only 59 hydrogen charging stations in the US and most of them in California, according to the . There are only a handful of automakers still offering a hydrogen-powered option, including Hyundai () and Toyota (). Honda used to offer a hydrogen car with the Clarity, but stopped producing it in 2021, according to .
