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Fleets prepared to lease the new hydrogen fuel-cell Hyundai ix35 will play a key part in the roll-out of the new technology. The Korean firm is about to start production of the 1000 vehicles that will be built between now and 2015 for markets worldwide, before the next-generation ix35 is produced in hydrogen-powered form at a rate of 10,000 units per year.
Hyundai claims that will make it the market leader in the pioneering zero-emission fuel, for which the only emission is water.
"We're talking to a number of leasing companies - to a certain extent it's irrelevant if there's no way of funding the vehicle," said Hyundai's ix35 fuel-cell product manager Robin Haynes, who added that rather than run the vehicles through the manufacturer's own leasing arm or work exclusively with one or two leasing firms on what will be very low volumes, the key is to work with "whichever leasing company the customer uses".
Haynes said talks have already been held with a number of utility firms, local authorities and some other fleets, and admitted that the benefits are environmental rather than financial.
"A number of utility companies have got big CO2 targets to hit and one or two of these vehicles can go a long way towards hitting those," he commented.
Infrastructure is also an issue, as there is currently only one public hydrogen refuelling point in the UK, positioned near Heathrow airport, where it fuelled a fleet of hydrogen taxis during the 2012 London Olympics.
Haynes said Hyundai is exploring the possibility of bundling in refuelling with the lease cost of the vehicle, although it will depend in individual circumstances as to how best the issue is resolved.
Dr Graham Cooley, chief executive of hydrogen power and refuelling station expert ITM Power, told BusinessCar that fleets would need more than the green incentive in order to adopt hydrogen.
The fuel is not certain to be any cheaper than petrol or diesel, and though Hyundai isn't able to say how much the fuel-cell ix35 will cost to buy or lease, it is certain to be significantly more expensive than an internal combustion-engined alternative.
"Price and carbon footprint have to both be an incentive for a new fuel to be adopted," he said. "It's not just good being green - it has to be greener and economically viable at the same time.
Hyundai also confirmed it is in discussions with the Government about getting the ix35 onto the Office for Low Emissions Vehicles' grant scheme, which would offer £5000 off the price of a fuel cell vehicle.
Only currently open to plug-in electric cars, the fuel-cell vehicle meets all the criteria for selection apart from being hydrogen-powered rather than electric.
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