THERE is something more than a little bit futuristic about pulling away in Hyundai’s NEXO.
Not just because it’s powered by hydrogen, but because it feels effortlessly at ease doing so.
Sadly, it’ll be as rare as hens’ teeth on British roads due to our government’s failure to support hydrogen, but it is nonetheless an important milestone in global motoring and will be available to buy here and in right-hand drive.
But with only a relative handful of hydrogen refuelling stations in the UK, and fewer than half of those available to the public, owning NEXO only makes the faintest whiff of sense if you happen to live next to one. Which is a crying shame.
Because it’s brilliant.
A comfortably premium and thoroughly modern SUV with unique styling channelling Walter White’s Pontiac Aztek in Breaking Bad, it deserves success.
The powertrain, in a nutshell, involves high-pressure hydrogen gas being fed into a fuel-cell stack where it meets oxygen drawn from the air.
This generates electricity which powers the motor.
The only emissions are water vapour and good vibes.
A class-leading 512-mile range, refillable in five minutes at a cost roughly similar to diesel and a luxuriously gentle ride which charms you more with every zero-emission mile you munch.
To my eyes, one of Hyundai’s best-looking SUVs yet with bio-based paint, plastics and pleather, tech’d up to the eyeballs, relaxation front seats with pop-up leg rests and up to 993 litres of luggage space, it would be a smash hit in hybrid flavour.
But it wouldn’t be as good.
No. NEXO doesn’t need diluting.
Britain just needs to look further than the end of its nose and get on board with a mobility technology that adds up for the planet’s future.
KEY FACTS: HYUNDAI NEXO
Price: £75,000 (est)
Battery: 2.64kWh
Power: 254hp
0-62mph: 7.8 secs
Top speed: 111mph
Range: 513 miles
CO2: 0g/km
Out: Q3, 2026
