A hydrogen-powered bus built by Hyundai exploded in Chungju, South Korea earlier this week, sparking safety concerns regarding the zero-emission fuel type's future use in transportation.
Per The Korea Times, three individuals, including an official at the city's hydrogen charging station, sustained non-life threatening injuries from the explosion, which occurred as the bus was starting its engine following a charging session. The explosion caused the vehicle's rear-end to be blown off.
Investigators from the Korea Gas Safety Corporations (KGS) immediately got to work while city authorities suspended all operations for the remaining fleet of 18 hydrogen-powered buses. South Korea began introducing hydrogen-powered commercial vehicle into city fleets over a decade ago. This is the first time an incident like this happened.
“Data shows that was the first explosion involving an HFCV. Hydrogen is a safe energy source, but there is no 100 percent,” a KGS official told The Korea Times, “The incident will be carefully and thoroughly investigated to find out what exactly caused it.”
Hydrogen-powered vehicles, also known as hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (FCEVs) store their hydrogen in high-pressure tanks that mixed with oxygen from the air in a fuel cell which generates electricity, which then powers the electric motor.
In this case, however, investigators are likely to rule out the tank as the cause of the explosion because it's not located where the explosion took place.
“The part is where the fuel cell stack is located. But for now, it is too early to state anything conclusively, given that too little is known about the case,” an investigator added.
The vehicle in question began operations in August 2022 and had no known previous issues until late last month when an "F" (fault) icon appeared on the dashboard.
The explosion is understandably causing concern for South Korea. As of last fall, a total of 36,989 FCEVs were registered in the country, an increase from 22,623 in 2022, according to national data. There have been past fire incidents stemming from electric vehicles powered by lithium-ion batteries but this is reportedly the first time the country experienced an FCEV issue such as this.
Hyundai is a growing player in FCEV R&D and manufacturing. Along with buses, the OEM builds the XCIENT Class 8 fuel cell semi. Just last month, the company's Metaplant American confirmed the deployment of 21 XCIENTS for logistics operations at its Bryan County, Ga. facility.
[Related: Hyundai Motor Group rolls out hydrogen trucks at Georgia plant]
Representatives from Hyundai did not respond to a request for comment.
