- Only fuel cell vehicle to earn a perfect score
Hyundai Motor Co.’s Tucson Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle (FCEV) triumphed in this year’s Challenge Bibendum held in Shanghai from 14 to 17 November. Competing against teams from Daimler AG, GM and Nissan, the Tucson FCEV was the only fuel cell electric vehicle to get a perfect score.
“This result once again confirms that Hyundai’s fuel cell technology is among the front-runners in the industry,” said Kwon Moon-Shik, Hyundai’s senior executive vice president responsible for advanced technology. Team Hyundai scored victories in previous editions of the Challenge Bibendum.
Challenge Bibendum, created by Michelin in 1998, is a competition that aims to promote sustainable road mobility, which covers four performance test parameters: noise, fuel efficiency, pollutants and CO2 emissions.
Introduced in 2004, the Tucson FCEV is Hyundai’s second generation fuel cell electric vehicle. It can reach a maximum speed of 150km/h and has an operating range of 350km using a hydrogen storage tank pressured at 350 bar. At the heart of this 21st century vehicle is a 80kW fuel cell stack developed by Hyundai.
Hyundai is currently operating two fuel cell test fleets, one in the United States and one in Korea. Hyundai is partnering with UTC Power, Chevron Texaco and the U.S. Department of Energy in a program which calls for the supply of 32 fuel cell vehicles. In Korea, Hyundai is supplying the government ministries and agencies with 34 fuel cell vehicles, including four buses.
ABOUT CHALLENGE BIBENDUM
Challenge Bibendum, created by Michelin in 1998, is a unique event for the promotion of sustainable road mobility. The event is a concerted effort by pre-eminent players in the automotive world – vehicle manufacturers, technical partners, energy suppliers and research institutes – to provide political and economic decision makers, as well as opinion leaders, with insights and in-depth understanding on the latest advanced vehicle technology to help achieve more fuel-efficient, cleaner, safer and freer-flowing road mobility.
Challenge Bibendum is a one-of-a-kind event, open to all technologies. Not only does it enable all the players in road mobility to come together to share their thoughts and experience, and to try out the latest technological developments for themselves, but it also tests, measures and analyzes the progress achieved by different technologies.
