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Will Norway and South Korea lead us to the hydrogen future?

In the US, California leads the hydrogen highway. But, globally, the countries at the forefront include Japan, Norway, and South Korea. A new announcement by the Norwegian ambassador in Seoul, Jan Grevstad, makes it sound like those last two countries should think about Voltron-ing it up to promote H2 cars. The ambassador was speaking at the Korea-Norway Economic Cooperation Council at the Federation of Korean Industries. "A great example of the Norwegian–South Korean energy cooperation can be found in the transport sector," he said, according to Yonhap News. "South Korean engine technology is paired with Norwegian hydrogen production and infrastructure technology to create hydrogen driven cars." Grevstad said that the two countries could also work together on solar, wind, and other energy efforts, but didn't get into more detail about what he meant by this. The first Toyota Mirai hydrogen car was just delivered to Norway, but other H2 vehicles have been on the roads there for many years. Back in 2009, for example, as part of the 24th Electric Vehicle Symposium (EVS24), some hydrogen cars road tripped from Oslo to Stavanger. That same year, Mazda delivered 30 hydrogen-powered RX-8 RE vehicles. Hyundai – a South Korean company, of course – has been leasing its Tucson Fuel Cell (also known as the ix35 Fuel Cell) in hydrogen-friendly areas and believes that hydrogen-powered cars have a bright future. There's even a Tucson Fuel Cell car-sharing program operating in Germany. As gung-ho as Hyundai is, it's only sold 26 Tucson Fuel Cells in Norway so far, out of a total of about 500 around the world, Yonhap News says. Related Video: News Source: Yonhap News Agency Green Hyundai Green Culture Hydrogen Cars h2 ix35 tucson

Google shows off its Android Auto system

Cars fitted with the Apple CarPlay system should be in dealerships next year, available as a delayed option on the 2015 Hyundai Sonata and eventually expected to be available on Volvo, Mercedes-Benz and Ferrari vehicles. Google isn't that far behind with its Android Auto, and after Hyundai showed it off at the LA Auto Show, Google Developers used their Dev.Bytes program give us a better look at it. Any phone with Lollipop 5.0, the latest version of Android, will be able to interface with the system after being plugged into the car's USB port. The Google Now cards you're familiar with on the phone will appear on the infotainment screen, and from there you're in a mobile Android world. A report in Edmunds says that Whatsapp will be an option from the start, and nifty Google tricks like "contextual search via voice control" respond to queries based on what's being discussed. Although Bloomberg recently did a video examining the Google vs. Apple question, your choice won't be binary; in Hyundais, at least, both systems will be fitted, plugging a phone in will decide which one comes up on screen. We don't know when we'll see it dealerships, but the video will give you a glimpse into your Android future.

Hyundai: hydrogen cars will gain wider acceptance in 10 years

Hyundai Motor Company said Monday it believes hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are the future for eco-friendly cars despite challenges of limited infrastructure and slow sales. South Korea's largest automaker has sold or leased 273 Tucson fuel cell SUVs since beginning production in 2013, mostly in Europe and California. The company had plans to make 1,000 in its first year of production. Kim Sae Hoon, general manager at Hyundai's fuel cell engineering design team, said fuel cell cars represent a bigger opportunity than electric cars because competition is less fierce. Hydrogen-powered cars also give more flexibility to designers, he said. They can be scaled to big vehicles such as buses as well as small cars. They can also be refueled as quickly as gasoline cars while traveling more miles than electric vehicles. The Tucson's European version, called the ix35 Fuel Cell, can travel up to 594 kilometers (369 miles) while its US model travels up to 265 miles (426 kilometers) on one charge on the various government efficiency tests. It emits water vapor and no greenhouse gases. High prices and the dearth of fueling stations are barriers to sales of fuel cell vehicles. Hyundai said it will be another 10 years before hydrogen cars start gaining wider acceptance. In the meantime, sales of eco-friendly cars are dominated by hybrid models such as Toyota's Prius and electric vehicles such as the Nissan Leaf, which are more affordable than fuel cell cars. Hyundai also produces hybrid cars and electric vehicles. It plans to invest 11.3 trillion won ($10 billion) in eco-friendly technology including hybrid cars, electric battery vehicles and hydrogen fuel cells in the four years from 2015. To boost sales, Hyundai slashed the Tucson fuel cell's price in South Korea in February to 85 million won ($76,000) from 150 million won ($134,000). South Korean customers are local government offices as there is no government subsidy for consumers. South Korea's government plans to establish 10 charging stations for fuel cell cars and expects 1,000 hydrogen-powered vehicles will be on the streets in South Korea by 2020. Japan started production of hydrogen-powered cars later than South Korea but such vehicles are experiencing faster growth in Japan with support from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government. Toyota started sales of its Mirai fuel cell sedan in December and has decided to increase production to 3,000 vehicles in 2017, which is quadruple production this year.