Ahead of the Planet: Hyundai Motor Reclaims Sea With Help of Seawater

A major manufacturer is developing a “marine” mobility platform that is powered by water in the sea.

The Hyundai Motor Company will develop a marine mobility platform to replace small and mid-sized diesel ships and reduce sea pollution. According to an exclusive report by Korean Herald, the automaker is in the process of making a 15-20-metre-long yacht powered by the firm’s hydrogen fuel cells, and it is scheduled to be presented by 2023.

The trimaran yacht consists of three hulls, and each hull is equipped with a device that splits sea water into hydrogen. With the help of hydrogen fuel cells already placed inside the hulls, it then uses the extracted hydrogen to power the propellers. Moreover, solar panels placed on the sails and two vertical wind turbines on the platform generate clean electricity that decomposes seawater into hydrogen as well. Such a trimaran yacht will cost approximately $3.7 million. The new project has been directly reported to Hyundai Motor Chairman Chung Eui-sun.

This new development will afford to use such mid-sized platform yachts as cargo ships, passenger ships, or waste disposal ships, and Hyundai officials involved in the project hope to manifest the standards of upcoming small and mid-sized hydrogen ships.

“In South Korea, there are thousands of diesel ships more than 20 to 30 years old. They are beyond repair and are polluting the environment. There is a demand to replace them, but it remains to be seen how cheaply Hyundai Motor can produce the new marine mobility platform”, Kim Pil-soo, an automotive engineering professor from Daelim University, shared, adding that “Electric vehicles are leading the trend, and Hyundai Motor’s hydrogen vehicle Nexo vehicles aren‘t profitable due to the costs of setting up the necessary infrastructure. So the automaker‘s direction of targeting hydrogen ships is correct”.