This is a comprehensive study on the global market for light-duty hydrogen FCVs that represent the next generation of electric drive vehicles.

As a carrier of energy, hydrogen has emerged as a viable alternative to existing solutions for powering automobiles. However, although hydrogen will be the fuel of the future, its widespread adoption is beset with challenges, such as:

• Cost of the FCVs
• Cost of the infrastructure to support the FCVs

Since 2014, the world has been witnessing a slow but steady transition to hydrogen FCVs for the mass market. During 2014, when the first sales/leases of hydrogen FCVs took place, U.S. led the field. The APAC region took the lead in sales/leases in 2015 and 2016, but Americas became the top seller in 2017 and 2018. In 2019, Nexo had a phenomenal uptake of these vehicles in South Korea, propelling APAC to the top spot.

Hydrogen FCVs have entered the commercialization phase in sixteen EMEA countries as well as in two APAC countries, South Korea and Japan, and in two countries in Americas, U.S. and Canada. These vehicles are now being introduced in China and CALA. China, in particular, will emerge as a major market for hydrogen FCVs in the next few years.

More than 18 thousand FCVs were sold/leased globally by year-end 2019. From 2020, the rollout of these vehicles is beginning to accelerate. With zero emission capability, these vehicles represent the future of the automobile. Information Trends projects that cumulatively, 6.56 million hydrogen FCVs will be sold/leased globally between 2014 and 2032.

Three major automakers, Toyota, Honda and Hyundai, are already selling these vehicles to the general public. Volkswagen and BMW are getting ready to join the FCV bandwagon with rollouts in 2021 and 2022 respectively. Rollout of vehicles from Chinese automakers, SAIC and Grove, are also imminent.

Sales/leases have been slow in the beginning primarily due to the prohibitive costs of FCVs and the absence of robust hydrogen fueling infrastructures. However, the costs of these vehicles are gradually coming down and a hydrogen fueling infrastructuresare beginning to take shape. This is propelling a faster growth of these vehicles.

Current customers of these vehicles include vehicle fleets, government agencies and early adopters. Until a critical mass of customers is reached in the 2020s, the market will remain confined to early adopters and affluent segments of society.

By 2025, sufficient hydrogen fueling infrastructures will be in place in several regions of the world, giving an initial boost to the market for these vehicles. As fueling infrastructures further expand in the second half of 2020s, hydrogen FCVs will begin to garner greater market acceptance, resulting in even faster market penetration.

The automotive industry has been making headway on two key prerequisites to market expansion of FCVs.  These are:

• Driving down FCV costs to make these vehicles more competitive with BEVs: Passenger FCVs are available in select markets, with early indications of real customer interest, and automakers are trying to price them to better compete at the premium-vehicle level.


• Developing hydrogen infrastructures needed for fueling these vehicles: Pockets of hydrogen station clusters have emerged in several regions of the world making it feasible to adopt FCVs in those regions. As these clusters expand, the adoption of FCVs will become more attractive.