Jae-Hoon Jang, President of Hyundai Motor Company, becomes Co-Chair of the Hydrogen Council

Jae-Hoon Jang, CEO of Hyundai Motor Company, will co-chair the HydrogenCouncil, a global council of CEOs. The HydrogenCouncil has appointed Jang as its new co-chair, succeeding Yoshinori Kanehana, Chairman of Kawasaki Heavy Industries, whose term expires in June.

Jae-Hoon Jang will serve as the new co-chair, alongside Linde CEO Sanjiv Lamba. Jang becomes the second co-chair of the Hydrogen Council, following Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Eui-Sun in 2019.

Hyundai has been intensively developing hydrogen-related technologies since 1998, when it established a dedicated hydrogen-related R&D organisation. Since then, Hyundai has strengthened its leadership in the hydrogen field through continuous investment and research, including the development of a unique stack, a core component of fuel cells, in 2004; the world's first mass production of the Tucson ix35 hydrogen electric vehicle in 2013; the mass production of the NEXO, a dedicated hydrogen electric vehicle, in 2018; and the world's first mass production of the Exiant hydrogen electric truck in 2020.

In particular, at CES earlier this year, Hyundai Motor Group announced the expansion of its existing fuel cell brand, HTWO, into a hydrogen value chain business brand, and shared its vision to become a hydrogen value chain solution provider beyond the field of hydrogen mobility by announcing the HTWO Grid solution to accelerate the transition to a hydrogen society.

In addition, the company has demonstrated its world-class hydrogen fuel cell technology and reliability through various demonstration projects at home and abroad, including the official launch of the North American hydrogen logistics transportation value chain business, such as the official launch of the California Port Eco-friendly Truck Introduction Project (NorCAL ZERO) last month, the acquisition of the domestic hydrogen fuel cell business from Hyundai Mobis this month, and the XCIENT Fuel Cell's total accumulated mileage in Switzerland exceeding 10 million km.

As CEO of Hyundai Motor Company, Jae-Hoon Jang has been actively engaged in promoting the hydrogen economy and has been working to provide practical solutions to the need to expand the use of hydrogen energy and the future energy transition. In his new role as Co-Chair of the Hydrogen Council, Jae-Hoon will discuss global hydrogen demand, lead coalitions with various stakeholders and partners, and work closely with the CEOs on the Council to accelerate the transition to a hydrogen society.

"The Hydrogen Council is an important initiative in the global green energy transition effort, and I am delighted to be appointed as co-chair and look forward to working with my fellow hydrogen leaders to drive innovation," said Jaehoon Jang.

Launched during the Davos Forum in 2017, the Hydrogen Council is a CEO-led global council that brings together companies with a vision and long-term ambition for hydrogen to accelerate the clean energy transition. From 13 members at launch, the Hydrogen Council now includes 140 companies in 20 countries.

The Hydrogen Council's annual CEO event, which took place from the 10th of this month, brought together CEOs from around the world, leading figures from the EU and Germany, as well as representatives of the hydrogen industry under the theme of 'Leadership in Action', to discuss concrete steps to grow the hydrogen ecosystem and create a sustainable energy future.

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Photo Hyundai Motor Company