Earlier this week we reported that it looks like Hyundai is moving away from fuel cell hydrogen in its zero-emission vehicle development, the Korean automaker further demonstrated it yesterday by announcing its plans for “14 new alternative-fuel models” with most of them being electric.
Hyundai CEO Dave Zuchowski confirmed that the company is planning to release five hybrids (HEV), four plug-in hybrids (PHEV), four electric vehicles (BEV) and one fuel cell vehicle (FCV) by 2020.
That’s the biggest commitment to electrification made by Hyundai so far – especially the four all-electric models.
Though it looks like the new IONIQ, which is offered as an HEV, PHEV and BEV, is being counted among those 14 models since Zuchowski was referring to vehicles being offered in the US and the IONIQ hasn’t arrived yet.
Hyundai is feeling the pressure from upcoming stricter CAFE and ZEV targets, but the CEO says that the company is serious about not only meeting those target, but also beating them with longer range batteries at lower costs. Automotive News reports:
Missing the targets could mean as much as $125 million in annual CAFE and ZEV fines for Hyundai. But rather than seek alternatives to those targets, Zuchowski is focused on creating alternative fuel Hyundai models that not only meet the standards, but do so with vehicles that solve current green car shortcomings: cost, battery range, utility and performance.
Hopefully, we will start seeing some investment in battery capacity from Hyundai soon and some new EV models.
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