Indian Woman Drinks Water Produced By Hyundai NEXO Hydrogen Car (Video)
India is completely new to the idea of using hydrogen as a fuel in vehicles. Most conversations around sustainable mobility here revolve around electric vehicles for now. In the future, however, we may see the influx of many Hydrogen-powered cars and SUVs. These use fuel cells to convert Hydrogen into electrical energy to power their electric motors. The byproduct (Read: tailpipe emission) in these will be pure water! Sounds fancy, right? A female journalist recently had a firsthand experience of this. She drove the all-new Hyundai NEXO, a Hydrogen-powered SUV, in South Korea and even drank the water collected from its exhaust system. A video of this, later shared on X (previously Twitter), is now racking up views.
Medha Yadav, a journalist at Jist News, recently travelled to South Korea to experience the Hyundai NEXO. It was in June this year that the carmaker launched the new Hydrogen-powered NEXO there. In the video, we see the lady give a brief introduction of the car. We can see water dripping from under it. The lady then puts a glass under the vehicle to collect the ‘exhaust water’.
On the NEXO, the exhaust water is discharged automatically. There is, however, a switch on the driver's side, pressing which would trigger a complete flush-out. The female journalist presses it and lets it collect in the glass.
We can then see that the water in this case appears clear- as if taken from a purification unit! The journalist even claims it to be ‘cleaner than the water in Indian rivers’. She even drinks some of it and says that ‘it tastes like RO water.’
Later in this video, she talks about the biggest advantage of hydrogen cars over electric cars- their low fuelling times! One of the biggest sore points of electric cars is their long charging times. Home-charging would need a night on many models, while even the fastest DC charging will take about 30 minutes on most models. Fuel stops on petrol or diesel cars, on the other hand, hardly need 5-10 minutes!
Hydrogen cars almost match petrol/diesel ones with their fueling times. It takes just five minutes to put a tankful of Hydrogen into the NEXO! Refuelling is done at dispensers that pump compressed Hydrogen into its fuel cell tanks.
The NEXO was first launched in 2018, but did not gain huge traction in many global markets. The second generation was unveiled at the Seoul Mobility Show this year. It is larger, better kitted, comes with an improved hydrogen fuel cell stack, and a more powerful electric motor setup.
The new NEXO is based on Hyundai’s new-age ‘Art of Steel’ design language. It looks different from most models available in India. In fact, this design bears a striking resemblance to the Pontiac Aztek from the past! The company has done its best to visually differentiate the hydrogen car from its EV and conventional ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) models.
This hydrogen-powered Hyundai SUV now comes with features like a 14-speaker Bang & Olufsen sound system, wireless phone charger, dual 12.3-inch displays for infotainment and instrumentation, a head-up display, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, connected car tech, level 2 ADAS, and even Vehicle to Load (V2L) charging. You even get digital rearview mirrors!
The new model comes with a more powerful hydrogen fuel cell stack, a larger tank that can store 6.69kg of Hydrogen, improved aerodynamics to maximise range, and a more powerful 198hp electric motor. (The previous NEXO had just 158hp on offer.) 0 to 100 km/h is done in just 7.8 seconds. The new model has a claimed range of 700 km (435 miles) per tank of Hydrogen.
It is unclear if Hyundai would bring the NEXO to the Indian shores anytime soon. A smooth, viable supply of Hydrogen and proper infrastructure are the biggest challenges here. The Hydrogen fuel infrastructure is still in a nascent phase.