POSCO and Hyundai Steel vie for leadership in steel for the hydrogen economy

Steel companies POSCO and Hyundai Steel are linking themselves to the hydrogen economy. The two companies are heading off in the metal separator business for hydrogen fuel cells as demand for hydrogen electric vehicles is expected to rise significantly in the future.

Metal separators for hydrogen fuel cells are one of the main materials of a battery, which can be called a hydrogen electric vehicle engine, which combines hydrogen and oxygen to generate electricity. In particular, metal cages have a high added value as they account for 60 percent of the cost of a stack.

POSCO, which has been developing materials for metal cages since 2006, has been developing parts in collaboration with Hyundai Motor since 2010. Since 2018, POSCO has been using Poss470FC for the production model of Hyundai Motor's hydrogen car. POSCO developed the world's first high-strength stainless steel Poss470FC and commercialized it for the first time in the world. “By developing the Poss470FC, we could have reduced costs and simplified the production of basic materials for hydrogen electric vehicles,” said a POSCO spokesman.

Hyundai Steel is also expanding its metal separator business. Hyundai Steel's Tangjin, Korea plant invests in metal separators. Its production line will be operational from April this year.

The plant will build a system capable of producing 16,000 metal separators per year by 2020. In addition, in line with Hyundai Motor Group's roadmap to build around 500,000 hydrogen electric vehicles in 2030, the company is considering expanding its metal separator production capacity beyond 2020.