Kia’s Future is Hydrogen Power

While many other car makers see the future as electric vehicles powered by battery Kia is among the few who see battery power as an interesting side issue and the real future of electric vehicles being all about hydrogen power.

Kia is currently testing a Borrego (not available in Australia?) they call they Mohave FCEV powered by a hydrogen cell and plans to put the vehicle into small-scale production in 2012 with full production starting in 2015.

The current test vehicle will run at speeds of up to 160kph and can travel around 600km on one hydrogen charge. A refill takes just five minutes and that’s definitely a point in favour of hydrogen vehicles compared to the recharge times for electric vehicles.

The hydrogen Borrego isn’t cheap though … Kia expects the vehicle to arrive in the showrooms in 2012 with a price tag of around $US50,000.

Kia have produced this short video that clearly explains how they will use hydrogen power and, if you can look beyond the hype, it’s really worth watching.