HD Hyundai Infracore (CEO: Young-cheul Cho, Seung-hyun Oh) will be expanding its realm with its partnership with Korean East-West Power to develop Hydrogen Internal Combustion Engines (H2ICE) and target the clean energy generation market.
HD Hyundai Infracore shared that it signed an MOU on ‘Mutual Partnership to Develop and Commercialize Hydrogen Internal Combustion Engines (H2ICE)’ on Friday, July 7 at its HD Hyundai Global R&D Center in Pangyo, Korea.
With this agreement, HD Hyundai Infracore will be building a 1MW-class H2ICE system by integrating five of its 200kW, 11L emission hydrogen combustion engines that are currently being developed.
Korea East-West Power Co. will be supporting the demonstration of H2ICEs by using its hydrogen supply facilities and power grid infrastructure at the Ulsan Power Plant.
H2ICEs, which use hydrogen as its only combustion fuel, have an advantage in both reducing costs and advancing commercialization goals as it uses existing diesel engine technologies and facilities to reach zero carbon emissions.
According to a report on H2ICE released by an engine parts manufacturer Garett Motion, market share of H2ICEs that only take up 5% of the market in 2030 will grow to 20% in 2040. Other global engine manufacturers including MAN, Cummins, and JCB are also in the process of developing their own hydrogen combustion engines.
The two parties plan to produce a prototype by the end of 2024 as its first collaboration stage and work on expanding the H2ICE line up. They will then follow by advancing into the hydrogen power generation market while focusing on the Clean Hydrogen Energy Portfolio Standards (CHPS).
Executive Vice President Joong-soo Kim of HD Hyundai Infracore’s engine business division said, “We will use this opportunity to expand our eco-friendly powertrain line up including the development of the 500kW-class and larger H2ICEs for constant power generation, and produce green energy to provide sustainable solutions to our customers.”
Meanwhile, HD Hyundai Infracore’s engine business division started the development of a ‘Storage and supply system for hydrogen internal combustion engines used in construction equipment/commercial vehicles’ after being nominated as national project’s main host last year. It also exhibited its H2ICE prototype for the first time at ConExpo 2023 held in Las Vegas last March. <EOD>