Hyundai Motor Group (HMG), which includes automotive brands Hyundai Motor Company and Kia Motors Corporation, announced its long-term roadmap for hydrogen fuel cell vehicle technology: FCEV Vision 2030. Aligned with the roadmap, Hyundai Motor Group (The Group) will boost its annual fuel-cell systems production capacity to 700,000 units by 2030 and explore new business opportunities to supply its fuel-cell systems to other transportation manufacturers of automobiles, drones, vessels, rolling stocks and forklifts.

Hyundai Motor Group, the global pioneer of the commercial production of FCEV, is taking a bold step forward to expedite the realization of a hydrogen society. We will expand our role beyond the automotive transportation sector and play a pivotal role in global society’s transition to clean energy by helping make hydrogen an economically viable energy source. We are confident that hydrogen power will transcend the transportation sector and become a leading global economic success.

—Euisun Chung, Executive Vice Chairman of Hyundai Motor Group

The ‘FCEV Vision 2030’ roadmap will help Hyundai Motor Group and its suppliers invest approximately KRW 7.6 trillion (US$6.7 billion) in R&D and facility expansion, which is expected to create approximately 51,000 jobs by 2030.

The Group plans to secure a 500,000-units-a–year FCEV production capacity by 2030, including passenger vehicles and commercial vehicles, in anticipation of high demand for global FCEVs expanding to around 2 million units a year within that timeframe.

As the first step to fulfill the FCEV Vision 2030, HMG’s fuel-cell system manufacturing affiliate Hyundai Mobis Co. held a groundbreaking ceremony for its second fuel-cell system plant in Chungju, South Korea. The second factory will help Mobis increase annual fuel-cell system output to 40,000 units by 2022, up from the current 3,000 units.

Hyundai Motor earlier this year launched NEXO, its second-generation commercialized FCEV, improving upon the Tucson FCEV introduced in 2013. NEXO was built on Hyundai’s first dedicated fuel-cell vehicle architecture, which provides many structural benefits including lighter weight, increased cabin space and improved fuel-cell system layout.

The Group plans to further advance the fuel-cell system used in NEXO models to upgrade and diversify its fuel-cell system lineup, so it can respond to demands from various industry sectors.

In December, Hyundai Motor Group established a dedicated division to develop and support fuel-cell system businesses.