Car Sharing Powered by Fuel Cell Technology

Car sharing and ride sharing have gained prominence as environmentally responsible and social reboot to carpooling. Using the power of connectivity, commuters connect with fellow car owners who are traveling in the same direction for short-distance trips. The unique selling proposition of several car sharing and ride sharing services has been their use of Electric Vehicles (EVs) as an eco-friendly, low-cost alternative to fossil fuel vehicles.

Korean automaker Hyundai and the world’s largest industrial gases and engineering company, Linde seek to challenge the boundaries of energy-efficient operations by collaborating to produce the world’s first car sharing fleet powered entirely by hydrogen fuel cells. This service known simply as BeeZero is run by a special subsidiary company—Linde Hydrogen Concepts. BeeZero’s fleet currently consists entirely of fifty Hyundai ix35 Tucson Fuel Cell crossover SUVs. One of the most apparent benefits of choosing a crossover is in the fact that unlike conventional battery-powered technologies, fuel cell vehicles suffer no range limitations while offering a completely zero-emission ride. Commuters will access BeeZero services through a smartphone app and be able to share a commute in and around the city of Munich, where the service is being introduced as a pilot.

Hydrogen-powered vehicles are known for their significant range and the Hyundai ix35 has an effective range of approximately 370 miles on a single filling—making the car ideal for multiple short to medium distance trips within the city or even to the remote destinations. While the technology is impressive, its migration to car sharing represents the right application and testing ground for the improving and inevitable adoption of hydrogen-based fuel cell technologies. This collaborative effort relies on the carbon-neutral extraction of hydrogen and the sustainable development of hydrogen fuel cell technology to the point where it can be readily used for improving public transport infrastructure.