Hyundai Nexo 2018 UK first drive

We’re driving a pre-production Nexo, but to all intents and purposes, it’s ready to go bar a few materials and the sat nav which is still in development. 

The opportunity has come up because it’s ‘Clean Driving Month’ and Hyundai has teamed up with University College London to map the most polluted and congested roads in the city, and then – you guessed it – have the Nexo drive around to help clean the air. Yes, it’s a marketing ploy, but demonstrates an impressive string to its bow.

There are two elements which are displayed in a section of the infotainment system. The first shows how much air you’ve purified, equating it to the amount of air an adult breathes a day. Hyundai claims that, in one hour, the Nexo purifies 26.9kg of air, the same amount as 42 adults.

The second is the CO2 reduction achieved by driving the Nexo over a petrol car. For example, in one 8.7-mile section of my drive, the system claimed CO2 was reduced by 2.1kg.

Green credentials aside, what’s it like to drive? You might expect a hydrogen car to feel dramatically different, yet it doesn’t. The Nexo hasn’t been created to be the ultimate driver’s car but, nonetheless, it is respectable on the road. In many ways, it feels like any electric vehicle with the same instant and linear power delivery.

The 120kW motor delivers 161bhp and 291lb ft of torque and the Nexo does 0-62mph in 9.5sec. From a standing start, it has just slightly more lag than your typical EV, but is still far more satisfying than an average internal combustion-engined car.

It rides comfortably but there’s a fair bit of judder on uneven Tarmac, while handling is hampered by the heavy weight (1814kg), which you notice immediately. That said, at a brief opportunity to throw it around a corner or two, it fared better than expected given its heft.

There are two driving modes, Normal and Eco. There’s not a stark difference in how the car feels between the two, but the Eco only delivers 80% of the overall power, though this can be overridden by pushing through a step on the throttle.

You’d have to be a well-paid, obsessive Hyundai fan or an affluent early-adopter to fork out £65,000 for the Nexo. But that’s beside the point. Hyundai is trailblazing here, creating a genuinely innovative vehicle to progress future power technologies at the expense of a profitable car. 

Unfortunately, little progress has been made over the past few years to bring down vehicle prices or increase infrastructure, meaning there’s a long way to go for these to be common place. 

The news earlier this year that Hyundai will team up with Audi to develop hydrogen fuel cell technology is important: it is these sorts of partnerships that will make it economically viable. By 2025, the two car makers want to reduce the cost of an FCEV by a third. 

When that happens, the rest will follow. 

Hyundai Nexo specification

Where Twickenham, England Price £65,000(est.) On sale March 2019 Engine 120kW motor Power 161bhp Torque 291lb ft Kerb weight 1814kg Top speed 111mph 0-62mph 9.5sec Range 414 miles (WLTP cycle) CO2 0g/km Rivals Toyota Mirai