Hydrogen-powered Hyundai Nexo does 414 miles to a tank and it spells progress
LET’S have a grown-up conversation.
How we travel today is likely to be very different from how we travel in 2039.
I don’t mean flying cars or self-driving robots taking us to Snowdonia for the weekend because they’re never going to happen. Not outside of strictly controlled zones anyway. I’m talking about how we fuel the vehicles of tomorrow.
The Government and Sadiq Khan are adamant anyone using plain old petrol and diesel should be hanged, drawn and quartered. Or at least pay the ULEZ charge. They say the future is electric.
Which is fine if you live on the ground floor in a city and only do a handful of miles a day.
But totally and utterly useless if you do hundreds of miles a day as you’ll need to keep stopping for a 30-minute recharge. To juice up at home today takes eight hours.
For electric vehicles to work for everyone everywhere, they need to be as quick and as convenient as filling up a Fiesta now.
Which is why I believe we need a multi-fuel future. Electric and hydrogen.
Take the hydrogen-powered Hyundai Nexo you see here. That does 414 miles to a tank, refuels as quickly as petrol and emits only water. No CO². No NOx. Just H²O.
And it looks like a normal car, not a washing machine with windscreen wipers.
Hydrogen is also the solution for our buses, trucks and trains.
Now I’ll try to keep this simple. The Nexo uses a fuel cell system which combines oxygen from the surrounding air and hydrogen from three high-pressure storage tanks to create a flow of electrons that powers the electric drive motor and charges the 1.56kWh battery pack.
The result is a family SUV that’s safe, quiet, clean and hovercraft smooth. Just press a button and go. I got the equivalent of 60mpg and a full tank costs around £60.
Hyundai clearly knows its onions after 20 years of research, as underlined by Audi signing a deal to borrow its tech. But as well as being a pioneer, the Nexo is a nice car.
Everything from the flush door handles to the bio interior to the heated steering wheel — Hyundai owners do love a heated steering wheel — feels very high end.
The widescreen dash is like a flight deck. Steering wheel paddles adjust the regenerative braking and add to the driving pleasure.
Flick the indicators to turn left or right and a camera feed showing your blind spot fills the driver’s binnacle. It can even park itself with you stood beside it.
But there is a problem. There are only ten hydrogen charging stations in the UK and plans for just 65 by 2030. That’s pathetic.
Even worse, the Government has invested a measly £23million in its Hydrogen Transport Programme compared with £14.5billion a year in foreign aid to fund studies on jazz and Roman statues.
The HS2 rail link will cost £56billion.
It would be easy to sit hydrogen refuelling tanks alongside existing petrol and diesel pumps in the short term.
Are hydrogen cars safe?
YES. Safer than petrol, say experts.
Petrol burns slowly and pools around a crash site.
But hydrogen is 14 times lighter than air and dissipates upwards rapidly.
Hyundai has put its storage tanks through crush, bonfire, lightning and gunfire tests.
most read in motors
The template for a pollution-free future is already up and running just off the M1 near Sheffield. It’s a hydrogen refuelling station where a wind turbine provides power for an electrolyser, which in turn splits water into hydrogen and oxygen then stores the hydrogen ready to refuel a passing car.
No big trucks transporting it for miles, or burning fossil fuels to create it.
It is the ultimate clean energy and supply is unlimited.
Let’s see some action.
Key facts:
HYUNDAI NEXO
- Price: £65,995
- Power: Hydrogen fuel cell
- Output: 163hp, 395Nm
- 0-62mph: 9.5 secs
- Top speed: 111mph
- Range: 414 miles
- CO2: 0g/km
- Out: Now
Get a load of dokker
By George Barrow
I’M guessing you know all about the no-nonsense Dacia Sandero – the UK’s cheapest new car.
And no doubt you’ve been tempted by a sparkly new Dacia Duster SUV for just £4 a day. But what you won’t have seen is the Dacia Dokker van. That’s because it’s not sold here, which is a shame because it should be.
It’s built in Morocco and along with the Dacia Logan is the country’s best-selling vehicle – an amazing 43 per cent of buyers there bought one last year. Wow. You’ll also find plenty in Dacia’s home country of Romania too, and just as many passenger versions in France because the Dokker is based on the previous generation Renault Kangoo. Despite being named after a dockworker, it won’t turn the air blue like one.
It’s got a Euro-6 emissions-friendly 1.5-litre diesel engine with either 75 or 90hp, and for the cheaper 100hp petrol version it’ll cost you just over 9,580 euros in Romania. There’s 3 cubic metres of space in the back and it’ll move up to 800kg.
The interior is made up of old bits you’d find in a Clio, and it’s got some genuinely clever features like the folding Easy Seat, which means you can move lengths of up to three metres. So come on Dacia, bring us the Dokker, it’s the best van money can’t yet buy.
- George is International Van of the Year juror and What Van? columnist.
CASTROL boffins have produced engine oil made from 180 pieces of chewing gum, 500ml of used fryer oil, 14 household batteries, 1g of silicone sealant and a CHRISTMAS TREE. Sounds complicated but interesting.
Fastest-growing sport
I’M not really one for wearing skin-tight clothes for a Sunday bike ride but I get it.
Cycling is one of the fastest-growing sports in the UK and Skoda are no fools. That’s why they’ve created this one-off Karoq Velo for all you Mamils out there (middle-aged men in Lycra).
It has a spin washer for damp kit, fridge, high-pressure washer, tool kit and follow-me drone – and there’s still room for three people and their bikes. All of the above topped a wish list of 1,500 riders.
Skoda has been making bikes since 1895, ten years before its first car.
Mow Farah
This Honda lawnmower does 0-100mph in 6.3 seconds – faster than an Audi R8 – tops 150mph and still cuts grass.
It’s powered by a 999cc motorbike engine from the CBR1000RR Fireblade SP and has a better power-to-weight ratio than a Bugatti Chiron. Bonkers but brilliant.
Nitro World Games
May 23-24, 2020, Principality Stadium, Cardiff. Stunt show starring Travis Pastrana and his nutty friends from FMX, BMX, skate and more. I’m giving you early notice to book time off.
It’s the best night out, ever. Tickets go on sale at 10am tomorrow at .
[boxout featured-image="9282423" intro="GOOD news. Aston Martin has started building the DBX – its first SUV – at St Athan in Wales."]The new plant has created 200 jobs, which could rise to 750. The DBX will be powered by Merc’s 500hp 4-litre V8 and cost around £170k.[/boxout]
- GOT a story? RING The Sun on 0207 782 4104 or WHATSAPP on 07423720250 or EMAIL [email protected]