Amit Saraswat 
Hyundai Motor Company (HMC) and University College London signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on the future development of carbon-free technologies. Both parties will look to achieve carbon neutrality by accelerating the establishment of a hydrogen economy and sustainable future mobility ecosystem.
Hyundai Motor and UCL will jointly research future mobility technologies to realise carbon neutrality in the fields of hydrogen production, fuel cells and electrification. Hyundai Motor also aims to strengthen collaboration with UCL on joint carbon reduction research projects, building on the company’s commitment to achieve carbon neutrality by 2045.
Both South Korea and the UK aim to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. Hyundai Motor Company is betting big on the development of a hydrogen economy by creating a whole ecosystem and infrastructure around it. It is worth mentioning that Hyundai is one of the few carmakers to have hydrogen-powered vehicles on sale for private use, which goes by the name Nexo.
Speaking of Hyundai’s partner in reaching the goal of hydrogen economy development, University College London (UCL) is a leader in hydrogen-related technologies and has recently strengthened its capabilities in automotive electrification research with the establishment of an Advanced Propulsion Lab in 2023.
Hyundai also announced to sell only zero-emission electrified vehicles by 2040 in major markets. The carmaker will begin to implement its plans starting in Europe in 2035. In addition, chasing its carbon-neutrality goals, the carmaker will also replace 100 per cent of the electricity demand of its global operations with renewable energy by 2025.
The MoU was signed on the cooperation in areas of research and development for hydrogen production, hydrogen fuel cells and electrification technology between Hyundai and University College London (UCL). The MoU signing ceremony took place on November 22 at the Mansion House in London.
The event was attended by multiple government officials of South Korea and the UK including Moon-kyu Bang, South Korea’s Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy; and Nigel Huddleston, UK Secretary of State for International Trade; as well as Dong-wook Kim, Executive Vice President of Hyundai Motor Company; and Dr Michael Spence, President and Provost of UCL.
About the announcement, Jaehoon Chang, president and CEO of Hyundai Motor Company said, “Through joint research with UCL, one of the UK’s leading research universities, we will accelerate the pace of technological innovation in hydrogen production, fuel cells and electrification. We hope that this collaboration will contribute to achieving carbon neutrality in the transportation sector, which is a goal shared by Korea and the UK.”
