.......... we are today discussing a car that you and I can now fill with hydrogen – the most abundant chemical substance in the known universe.

First and foremost, the 2021 Hyundai Nexo is an electric vehicle with an on-board power station. Instead of relying solely on batteries to store energy, it generates power-on-demand via a clever hydrogen fuel-cell stack under the bonnet.

Hydrogen vehicles are not new territory for the brand either, as it actually set off on its sci-fi adventure some 24 years ago. As is the case with technology – advancement, adoption and thus scalability have begun to lower costs and make production feasible.

It also led to the milestone moment of Hyundai introducing Australia's first commercially available hydrogen fuel cell vehicle, which signifies another advancement in the alternative energy space................

..............The Hyundai Nexo is naturally complex. On-board there's a 120kW/395Nm electric motor, 95kW fuel cell system, three hydrogen fuel tanks totalling 150 litres, and a small 1.56kWh lithium-ion Polymer (Li-Po) battery pack.


The battery's purpose is to store any unused electricity and harvest extra from the vehicle's brakes. Together with the hydrogen fuel cell stack, its combined system output is 135kW/395Nm.

Filling the 150-litre tank from empty will take five minutes and grant you a combined range of 666km. In terms of cost, 150-litres of hydrogen weighs 6kg. The cost at the pump currently is $15 per kg, which results in a full tank from empty costing $90.

The Nexo works by flowing hydrogen gas into a membranous fuel cell stack under the bonnet, where it meets natural ambient air containing oxygen. This process creates two things – water and electricity – with the latter powering the motor................   

..............   What's more fascinating however is that during the process of using ambient air to generate electricity, it also cleans it. The stuff that comes out of the pipe of this car is actually better than what went in.

According to the vehicle's data logger, our 150km drive purified approximately 98.9kL of air, or the same amount that seven adults breathe per day. Whilst doing this it also emitted 21.8kg less of CO2 than a "same class vehicle" would've over the same distance........