Hyundai New Zealand will commence trial for their first hydrogen powered truck, the Xcient FCEV due to land later this month.
Hyundai New Zealand general manager, Adny Sinclair says, “As a Kiwi owned company, we are big believers of implementing alternative fuel technology here in New Zealand.”
“We have championed this through the introduction of Nexo, New Zealand’s first hydrogen powered SUV in 2019. Now with the Xcient FCEV, we have an opportunity to help fast track the large scale adoption of alternative green fuels in the New Zealand road freight sector.”
Along with Korea and Switzerland, New Zealand will be one of the first countries to gain access to these truck. New Zealand will receive five trucks over the next 12 months.
“We’re fortunate as a local distributor to have a strong working relationship with Hyundai Motor Company, who acknowledge and support our hydrogen ambitions. Hyundai Motor Company anticipated the future potential of hydrogen fuel cells at an early stage, and we have been able to benefit from that,” explained Sinclair.
Hyundai New Zealand will test the trucks in the regions with local freight companies to understand how the trucks operate in a commercial environment.