Hyundai is going all in on hydrogen, and relying on food waste to make that happen
Kia-owner Hyundai certainly isn’t in a big rush to go carbon neutral. It has set its target as the far-away date of 2050. But now it says it will rely heavily on hydrogen fuel cells generated from plastic, food, and organic waste to power a whole new generation of EVs, from passenger cars to heavy-duty trucks. Problem is, there is nowhere to charge them.
The South Korean automaker is among a small group of companies embracing hydrogen fuel cell technology, with GM, Toyota, and Honda among them. At CES in Las Vegas, the company announced that hydrogen fuel will now play a “crucial role in Hyundai’s sustainability roadmap as it is a clean energy source.”
“Clean hydrogen should be for everyone, powering everything, and available everywhere,” Jay Chang, president and CEO of Hyundai Motor Company, said in a statement. It plans to use hydrogen in any number of vehicles, from passenger cars to buses and trucks, as well as trams, boats, power generators, advanced air mobility, and special equipment.
Hyundai has already been mass-producing hydrogen fuel cell EVs for a while with its Nexo line. Currently the 2024 Hyundai Nexo compact crossover and the Toyota Mirai sedan are the only two hydrogen fuel cell (FCEV) EVs available to buy in the US, and that’s only in California.
Rather than plugging in the vehicle as you would for a battery-electric car, hydrogen fuel cells rely on compressed hydrogen. To recharge, you can top off your vehicle via a fuel cell stack in about five minutes. For the Nexo, a recharge can take you 380 miles, with its only emissions being water vapor.
Problem is, there is almost no hydrogen infrastructure and very few hydrogen recharging stations, and only a smattering in North America. China has the largest network of recharging stations in the world, but in California, you’ll find around 63 recharging stations, mostly around Los Angeles and San Francisco. In the East Coast, there are maybe a handful of stations. Storing hydrogen is a challenge too in that it requires high pressures, low temperatures, or other chemical process to keep it compact.
Hyundai has also announced that it is developing “megawatt-scale polymer electrolyte membrane electrolyzer manufacturing capabilities for green hydrogen production, which is expected to commercialize within the next few years.” The company plans to make this transition via its hydrogen fuel cell system brand, HTWO, launched in 2020.
To produce hydrogen, the company will focus on Waste-to-Hydrogen methods, which involves fermenting organic waste, such as food and livestock manure, to produce biogas. The biogas is then treated to capture CO2 and produce hydrogen. Another method, Plastic-to-Hydrogen, will use waste plastic that is recyclable – first it is melted, the turned into gas, then transformed into hydrogen after stripping away unessential elements.
Hyundai also announced some new technologies at CES, including its “Software-defined Everything,” which “aims to transform all moving devices, fleets and ecosystems into valuable assets through advanced software and AI.” Hyundai, like a lot of other automakers, is developing software-defined vehicles, à la Tesla, which can then be updated via over-the-air updates. The company said it is shifting “everything into a software-defined approach, from vehicle development to building the entire mobility ecosystem.” What this means seems to be that Hyundai drivers can expect to see some new infotainment upgrades, a new app library, and the development of SDKs for developers to create some “killer apps.” AI, of course, will be a part of the package, with its in-car voice assistance updated to enable more seamless communication between the vehicle and the driver. Hyundai’s $100 million stake in AI chip manufacturer Tenstorrent should help make that happen.
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Environment
Toyota the EV battery supplier? Honda will use them to power up its 400,000 hybrids in the US
Toyota is now a battery supplier? That’s the plan. Honda will use Toyota’s batteries to power up its around 400,000 hybrids sold in the US.
Toyota will supply batteries for Honda hybrids in the US
Toyota’s $14 billion battery plant in North Carolina is ready for business. The facility will begin shipping out batteries next month, and it looks like Toyota already has its first customer.
According to a new Nikkei report, starting in fiscal 2025, Toyota will supply batteries for the roughly 400,000 Honda hybrids sold in the US.
Honda currently uses batteries from China and Japan for vehicles sold in the US, but the company is (like most) preparing for changes under Trump.
Honda’s electrified vehicles, including EVs and hybrids, accounted for over a quarter of US sales last year. The company sold over 308,500 hybrids and 40,400 electric vehicles in the US in 2024. The batteries will likely be used in the CR-V and other Honda hybrid vehicles.
Earlier this month, an extra 10% tariff on imports from China took effect. And that’s on top of the 10% imposed in February.
With more expected, including a 25% increase in vehicles imported from Japan, automakers are tightening up their supply chains.
A 25% tariff on Japanese vehicles, up from 2.5% currently, is estimated to cost the six major Japanese automakers about $20 billion in the US.
Tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada could cost Honda roughly $4.7 billion alone. Teaming up with Toyota to use its batteries for its hybrids is part of Japan’s broader global plans to ween off dependence on China and others for batteries and other emerging tech.
The new US plant, Toyota Battery Manufacturing North Carolina (TBMC), is over seven million square feet, or about the size of 121 football fields.
As Toyota’s first in-house battery factory outside of Japan, the plant could be a game changer as Trump’s tariffs take effect. Securing Honda as a buyer will already help Toyota cut costs as it ramps up output.
Toyota plans to ramp up electrified vehicle (EV, PHEV, and hybrid) sales in North America from around 40% last year to 80% by 2030.
Electrek’s Take
Trump’s tariffs are already causing havoc, with nearly every automaker warning that they put the US further behind. Overseas automakers are not the only ones feeling the heat, either.
The “Big Three,” GM, Ford, and Jeep maker Stellantis all build vehicles in Canada and Mexico. GM cut output at its plant in Mexico in January, where the electric Chevy Equinox, Blazer, and Honda Prologue are made. Stellantis halted operations at its Brampton Assembly Plant in Canada last month, where it was expected to launch the Jeep Compass EV production. What’s next?
For Toyota, it looks like its $14 billion bet to build batteries in the US is already paying off. Now, we just need it to introduce more EVs.
After unveiling three new electric SUVs in Europe last week, including the updated bZ4X, Toyota hinted more is on the way for the US. Check back soon for updates.
What do you think? Do you want to see more Toyota EVs in the US, like the new C-HR+? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
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Environment
If Musk wants to sell Tesla cars to conservatives, Tesla needs stores and service in red states
Elon Musk wants to sell Tesla cars to conservatives, but if that’s the strategy, the automaker should start with having stores and service centers in red states and rural areas.
It’s no secret that Elon Musk’s approval ratings with progressives have been plummeting over the last few years and even more so in the previous few months.
Since he has control over Tesla and he is the only official spokesperson since he let go of the PR department in 2020, the CEO is dragging the automaker along for the ride.
This is a problem for Tesla as Democrats are much more likely to buy electric vehicles than Republicans:
Tesla’s sales have been crumbling over the last few months, and after the stock crashed 15% last Monday, President Trump held a controversial commercial for Tesla with Musk on the steps of the White House on Tuesday.
A day later, it was reported that Musk plans to give Trump another $100 million in political donations.
It was an apparent attempt to try to promote Tesla to Trump’s fans: conservatives.
Based on a Tesla inventory check and new order delivery timeline, we reported that the Trump ad appeared to have little to no impact on the demand for Tesla vehicles.
It could be that people see through Musk and Trump’s quid pro quo and, therefore, don’t value Trump’s “Tessler” endorsement seriously. Still, there’s also a more practical reason why Trump’s fans and conservatives generally don’t buy more Tesla vehicles: the locations of Tesla’s stores and service centers (hat tip to Ben).
Even if some Trump fans were interested in buying a Tesla after the White House commercial last week, they might have been turned off by the idea of having to drive several hours to a store or service center.
Tesla does not have stores or service centers in Alabama, Arkansas, North and South Dakota, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, or Wyoming.
In some cases, it’s not entirely Tesla’s fault, as some of these states have laws against Tesla’s direct sale models. They force automakers to go through third-party franchise dealerships. This is an abuse of old state laws aimed at protecting dealers against unfair competition from the automakers they represent.
Car dealer lobbies use their influence on state legislatures to use these laws to block Tesla, Rivian, Lucid, and other automakers who never had franchise dealerships from operating their own stores and service centers.
But on top of not having locations in several red states, Tesla also primarily has locations in urban areas, whereas conservatives disproportionally live in rural areas.
The automaker has several dead zones and doesn’t operate locations in smaller cities and towns where there are several Ford, GM, Toyota, and other car dealers:
While it certainly does happen, it’s hard to convince someone to buy a car if they have to drive several hours to pick it up and have it serviced.
Electrek’s Take
In short, it’s not only harder to convince conservatives, on average, to buy an electric vehicle, but Tesla is also not correctly set up to sell and service cars in conservative regions of the US.
Though, I think that’s a small part of the problem.
Cars are not supposed to be political.
Even if Tesla successfully converted a significant percentage of conservatives to electric vehicles, it wouldn’t stop the company’s brand destruction.
Tesla’s reputation amongst Democrats and independents has sharply decreased over the last few years, and especially over the last few months, and that’s thanks to Elon Musk alienating them.
It’s tough to be a successful consumer product company when you have alienated 50% or so of your market.
Tesla is basically becoming the MyPillow of Trump’s second term.
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