The South Korean automotive major’s Xcient Class-8 heavy-duty trucks will transport timber for Uruguay’s leading pulp producer, using green hydrogen produced by a 77-tonne-per-year plant.

Located in Fray Bentos, the Kahirós facility is due online by November 2026 and will use 4.8MW of onsite solar energy to produce the hydrogen through a 2MW electrolyser.

The project is backed by $40m in investment from Santander Group, a $20m loan from the International Finance Corporation, and a $1m loan from the United Nations’ Renewable Energy Innovation Fund.

According to Hyundai, deployment of the Xcient trucks – which have a 400km range – is the first is its first in South America. Over the course of the scheme, the firm estimates the trucks will cover around one million kilometres.

The Kahirós project has been established by the Uruguayan trio of logistics firm Fraylog, energy company Ventus, and Fidocar – a Hyundai fuel cell truck distributor.

Hydrogen fuelled heavy-duty transport has seen increased adoption as governments deploy decarbonisation mandates on the mobility sector.

In 2024 Hyundai rolled out 21 of the Xcient trucks to support logistics at an EV plant in the US south, and more recently set its sights on US east coast deployments through a deal with a zero-emissions fleet provider.

However, the pathway is often criticised for its low energy efficiency compared to battery electric vehicles.

David Cebon, Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Cambridge University, told a H2 View webinar that converting electricity to hydrogen and back again delivers just a third of the useful motion you’d get from using electricity directly.

Proponents argue in regions without established electricity grids, hydrogen trucks can be a viable clean mobility pathway.