Hyundai Delivers Fuel Cell Vehicle to Quebec Organization

Hyundai's hydrogen fuel cell-powered Tucson is now being driven in three Canadian provinces following the first delivery in Quebec on August 10.

The Tucscon Fuel Cell has been in use in B.C. since February 2015, and the first Ontario delivery took place in spring 2016.

Paul Yvan-Deschênes pocketed the keys to the first Quebec-registered Tucson Fuel Cell yesterday, on behalf of the Centre de Gestion de l'Équipment Roulant (CGER), which manages the Quebec government's vehicle fleets. Hyundai says the CGER is leasing the vehicle along with the Hydrogen Research Institute of Trois-Rivières, at the Université du Quebec à Trois-Rivières, located about halfway between Montreal and Quebec City.

Deschênes said the CGER leased the Tucson Fuel Cell as part of its mandate to "(push) the boundaries of automotive fleets to reduce gasoline consumption and greenhouse gas emissions." Like other hydrogen-fuelled vehicles, the Tucson Fuel Cell is notable for converting hydrogen into electricity with water being the only byproduct of that electrochemical process.

The Tucson Fuel Cell is the CGER's latest addition to a fleet that already includes a number of electric, hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles. The latest addition will be refuelled at the Hydrogen Research Institute.

Based on the previous-generation Tucson, Hyundai's first fuel cell vehicle is a test bed for technology that is being further refined for a second-generation vehicle set to reach the marketplace in time for the 2018 Summer Olympics in South Korea. And that is part of a wider effort by Hyundai and Kia to add a wide range of electrified vehicles to its lineup in the coming years.