Hyundai Motor Group announced on March 2 that it held a virtual groundbreaking ceremony for HTWO Guangzhou, the group’s first fuel cell system facility outside of Korea. The facility is intended to support the group's push into China’s rapidly developing hydrogen industry.

Participating in the virtual groundbreaking ceremony were Li Xi, secretary of Guangdong Province, and Ma Xingrui, governor of Guangdong Province — both joining from Guangzhou Yuexiu International Congress Center in China — along with Chung Eui-sun, Hyundai Motor Group chairman, and Kim Sae-hoon, head of the Hyundai Fuel Cell Center — both joining from Hyundai Motorstudio Goyang in Korea.

“The establishment of HTWO Guangzhou marks an important starting point for Hyundai Motor Group’s dedicated fuel cell system brand HTWO,” Chung said. “Hyundai Motor Group will actively lead clean mobility innovations using its strategic partnerships, world-class technology, hydrogen business capabilities and related expertise.”

HTWO stands for ‘H2,' the hydrogen molecule, whilst also representing ‘Hydrogen’ and ‘Humanity,’ the main pillars of the group’s fuel cell business.

HTWO Guangzhou will be built in the Guangzhou development district of Guangdong Province, China, with the aim of completing the project in the second half of 2022. Facilities, including a fuel cell system plant and an innovation center, will be built on the 207,000-square-meter site.

The annual production target for the facility is 6,500 units, with a goal to gradually expand production capacity in line with Chinese market conditions and central government policies.

The group plans to take the lead in realizing carbon neutrality by strengthening production of its world-leading hydrogen fuel cell systems, making them available as power sources for various industries.

In 2018, Hyundai Motor Group announced plans to expand its supply capacity to 700,000 hydrogen fuel cell systems annually by 2030, under its mid- to long-term hydrogen roadmap ‘Fuel Cell Vision 2030.’

Through strategic partnerships with hydrogen, energy and logistics companies around the world, the group has expanded its fuel cell system business, accelerating development of a hydrogen society and laying the foundation for the company’s HTWO brand, with initial focus on major hub regions — Korea, Europe, China and the U.S.

Since marketing the world’s first mass-produced fuel cell electric vehicle ix35 in 2013, the Group has been expanding its vehicle offerings powered by its fuel cell system, such as Hyundai NEXO SUV, XCIENT Fuel Cell heavy-duty truck and a fuel cell electric bus, as zero-emission mobility solutions.

This article is reproduced at www.businesskorea.co.kr