2001 Hyundai 116000 on 2040-cars

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Surprise Costs Have A Cost: Why we turned down the Hyundai Tucson Fuel Cell

They say you can always tell the pioneers. They're the ones with the arrows in their backs. Unfortunately, that was our experience pursuing – and eventually rejecting – the new hydrogen fuel cell-powered Hyundai Tucson. I first heard about Hyundai's new hydrogen fuel cell vehicle (FCV) at the Los Angeles Auto Show in November 2013. As a tech buff, the thought of driving a new, clean technology vehicle sounded exciting. Best of all, Hyundai was wrapping the new vehicle in a smart, familiar package, as a loaded current-generation Tucson SUV. The FCV Tucson was billed as $499 a month with $2,999 down, with free fuel and free maintenance. Our family needed a new, small, fuel efficient SUV, so I signed up for information on the upcoming lease program. Someone has to go first. Why not us? In the spring of 2014, I learned more at a Clean Fuel Symposium, held on the Queen Mary in Long Beach. The panel was packed with experts on alternative fuel vehicles. One spokesperson outlined the chicken or egg problem with alternative fuels like hydrogen: fuels first or vehicles? Another said something that I should have heard more clearly. "If the argument [to move to alternative fuel vehicles] has to start with a change of behavior from consumers, that's a hard row to hoe." I would soon to learn what an FCV would really cost, both in hours and in dollars. Nonetheless, I was ready to try jumping the hurdles and get an alternative fuel car. A low impact on the environment, plus free fuel and a solo car pool lane sticker? What could go wrong? My wife was a much harder nut to crack. My habit of jokingly calling it a "nuclear-powered" car probably didn't help much either. Our conversations went like this: "A what kind of car?" "Hydrogen fuel cell." "What?" "It's essentially an electric car." "Don't those things have a really short range?" "Yes. That's what the hydrogen is for. You fill it with hydrogen to fill the fuel cell, instead of charging it overnight like an electric car." "Where do you get hydrogen?" "Well..." It turned out the nearest hydrogen station was in Burbank, about 13 miles from our house. In LA traffic, that could be more than half an hour's drive each way. Since there's an excellent bakery in Burbank (Porto's), I told my wife I was fine with taking the time each week to fuel up every 200 miles or so.

Hyundai concept looks like Le Mans prototype from 2025

Hyundai is ripping the sheet off its N 2025 Vision Gran Turismo for the latest teaser of the digital racecar. The fighter jet-inspired design looks ready to turn on the afterburners at Le Mans a decade from now, but it debuts at this year's Frankfurt Motor Show to promote the company's new N performance sub-brand. The N 2025 is the latest in a long line of imaginative Vision Gran Turismo concepts from a plethora of automakers, but Hyundai is still keeping exact details about its entry a secret. The company admits that the racer highlights sustainable technology under the long, low-slung body, and that suggests something other than just a high-revving internal combustion engine for power. In addition to the PlayStation racer, Hyundai has a few other debuts in store for the German event. The new i20 Active and Sante Fe will get their European unveilings, and the Vision G Coupe will come along, as well. To further push the performance image, the next-gen 2016 i20 World Rally Championship car will also be on display. Hyundai Motor to Enhance IAA Press Conference with Live Streaming and Innovative Digital Assets 09 September, 2015 Hyundai Motor to Enhance IAA Press Conference with Live Streaming and Innovative Digital Assets - Broadcast of pre-show begins at 11:15 CET, Tuesday 15 September 2015 - Online newsroom enriches flow of information - Hyundai Motor showcases new models and visionary concept cars September 9, 2015 - Hyundai Motor will live-stream its press conference at the 2015 Frankfurt International Motor Show, enabling a wider audience to learn about the brand's passion for performance and a host of new Hyundai models, design concepts and technologies. New i20 Active and New Santa Fe will premiere in Europe, enhancing Hyundai Motor's European range of Crossover and SUV models. The company will also showcase its new high-performance N sub-brand, brought to life through the thrilling Hyundai N 2025 Vision Gran Turismo concept car and the New Generation i20 WRC car being previewed ahead of the 2016 World Rally Championship season. The Vision G coupe concept introduces dynamic design and advanced technology as inspiration for future premium products. The Hyundai Motor press conference will take place in Hall 6 at 11:30 CET on Tuesday 15 September 2015, and the livestream will be available via www.hyundai.news/IAA2015.

Solid-state batteries: Why Toyota's plans could be a game-changer for EVs

Word out of Japan today is that Toyota is working on launching a new solid-state battery for electric vehicles that will put it solidly in the EV game by 2022. Which leads to a simple question: What is a solid-state battery, and why does it matter? Back in February, John Goodenough observed, "Cost, safety, energy density, rates of charge and discharge and cycle life are critical for battery-driven cars to be more widely adopted." And risking a bad pun on his surname, he seemed to be implying that all of those characteristics weren't currently good enough in autos using lithium-ion batteries. This comment is relevant because Goodenough, professor at the Cockrell School of Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin - it so happens, he turns 95 today - is the co-inventor of the lithium-ion battery, the type of battery that is pretty much the mainstay of current electric vehicles. And he and a research fellow at U of T were announcing they'd developed a solid-state battery, one that has improved energy density (which means a car so equipped can drive further) and can be recharged more quickly and more often (a.k.a., "long cycle life") than a lithium-ion battery. (Did you ever notice that with time your iPhone keeps less of a charge than it did back when it was shiny and new? That's because it has a limited cycle life. Which is one thing when you're talking about a phone. And something else entirely when it involves a whole car.) What's more, there is reduced mass for a solid-state battery. And there isn't the same safety concern that exists with li-ion batteries vis-a- vis conflagration (which is why at airplane boarding gates they say they'll check your carryon as long as you remove all lithium-ion batteries). Lithium-ion batteries may be far more advanced than the lead-acid batteries that are under the hood of essentially every car that wasn't built in Fremont, Calif., but as is the case with those heavy black rectangles, li-ion batteries contain a liquid. In the lithium-ion battery, the liquid, the electrolyte, moves the lithium ions from the negative to the positive side (anode to cathode) of the battery. In a solid-state design, there is no liquid sloshing around, which also means that there's no liquid that would freeze at low operating temperatures. What Toyota is using for its solid-state battery is still unknown, as is the case for the solid-state batteries that Hyundai is reportedly working on for its EVs.