By Paul Gover.
You cannot buy a Hyundai Nexo in Australia.
The hydrogen-powered compact car is reserved for lease deals with a small number of government and fleet buyers, who are being used for on-the-road research.
Toyota is also investigating the use of hydrogen for cars, focussing on Melbourne as Hyundai bases its small line-up of Nexo future cars in Sydney and Canberra.
But I have driven one and taken a trip into the (more distant) future of electric cars.
Right now, electrification of motoring means hybrids like the Toyota Prius, plug-in hybrids with bigger batteries and more electric-only range, and the fully battery-electric cars that start with MG and run up through Tesla to Mercedes-Benz and Porsche.
There are a growing number of all three types on sale in Australia, right now, for people who want to green their driving. And are happy to pay a considerable premium.
Then there is the Nexo, which frees you from the electric grid – and petroleum power – with what is called a ‘fuel cell’ that converts hydrogen into onboard electricity.
The first fuel cells were used on space missions to the moon and, since then, their size, complexity and cost has fallen dramatically like all breakthrough technology.
If you could buy a Nexo it would probably be in the $140,000 region, a giant amount of money.
But the Nexo is surprisingly ’normal’ to drive, with the performance of a ‘regular’ electric car and a range of up to 666 kilometres on a full tank of hydrogen.
My drive is shorter and basically a taste. And, on that front, the only emission from a hydrogen car is water.
I know because the first time I drove a hydrogen car, the Honda Clarity in California, I drank a glass of water that was collected from its exhaust pipe. There have been no ill effects.
The basics of the Nexo are shared with the Hyundai i30 and so it looks and feels positively normal when I collect it from Hyundai HQ in Sydney. It is only half-fuelled, a precaution by Hyundai with a car that is so advanced, so I’m restricted to a maximum of 300 kilometres.
But it takes far less time and driving to accept and enjoy the Nexo.
It is quiet and comfortable, the performance is good – although not remotely like a Tesla in ‘ludicrous’ mode – and I have none of the ‘range anxiety’ that hits when I’m driving a battery car that needs to be plugged-in to keep going.
I’m not a fan of the Nexo’s interior layout, which is fussy and confusing, but it feels lighter than a similar battery car in all conditions from braking and acceleration to big bumps and potholes.
That’s because it doesn’t have a giant battery pack under the floor, instead using hydrogen tanks with a capacity of 156.5 litres, the fuel cell in the nose, and a much smaller battery to make its way in the world
Right now, the Nexo is a trip into the future and a promise of motoring technology that can work in Australia without reliance on a huge new set of infrastructure and endless plug-in points. There are questions about how the hydrogen is made, with complaints about burning coal to extract the gas, but Hyundai and many others are working on ways – solar and wind power for a start – that will be totally green.
Don’t expect hydrogen cars inside the next 10 years, but they are coming and they promise many advantages over battery-electric travel. The Nexo is far more normal than I expected, even though it is still more like a science experiment than an everyday commuter car.
HYUNDAI NEXO
Position: hydrogen fuel-cell car
Price: not available
Engine: hydrogen fuel cell with electric motor
Power: 135kW/3950Nm
Transmission: single-speed, front-wheel drive
Safety: not tested
Plus: a pointer to the future
Minus: not for sale – yet
THE TICK: one day
Score: 8/10
