Kia Borrego FCEV

The Kia Borrego FCEV made its debut at the 2008 Los Angeles International Auto Show where the South Korean automaker unveiled it’s latest hydrogen-powered vehicle. The Kia Borrego FCEV one-ups the Kia Sportage FCEV that they’ve been showing off over the past couple of years in a few ways.

Kia Borrego FCEV

The Kia Borrego FCEV will more than double the range of the Sportage (205 miles) coming in at around 426 miles using three 10,000 psi compressed hydrogen tanks. The fuel cell has also been upgraded to 154 hp (115 kW) with a companion supercapacitor rated at 450 volts (134 hp). The electric motor is rated at 147 hp (or 109 kW) and resides at the front of the vehicle.

With the fuel cell and supercapacitor combo, the Kia Borrego FCEV is able to start in temperatures as cold as -30 degrees Celsius. Kia has indicated that in 2010, they will start low volume production of the Borrego FCEV starting in South Korea.

With a bit of a higher top end the Kia Borrego FCEV will max out at around 100 mph compared to the Sportage FCEV at 93 mph. The Borrego FCEV will also drop a few mpg’s as it is now rated at 54 mpg (not bad for an SUV weighing in at 4,960 lbs.) compared to the Sportage FCEV at 57 mpg.

Hyundai and Kia have partnered up and are both gearing up for rollouts in the next several years. Kia says in 2010 it will start limited edition rollouts and Hyundai has stated that by 2012, it will start rolling out 1,000 units.

The Kia Borrego FCEV like other hybrids uses regenerative braking to restore energy. The vehicle has decent 0 to 60 mph acceleration rated at 12.8 seconds.

This fuel cell vehicle will be shown at both the Chicago and Detroit Auto Shows in 2009 before being lent out for any ride and drive events, the first of which, may be in Miami, Florida.