Everything you need to know about hydrogen fuel cell vehicles

The rise of battery-electric vehicles over the past few years has meant hydrogen cars have moved  closer to the fringes of the new car market. 

Until relatively recently, two hydrogen models were available in the UK as new cars but make no mistake: hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are slowly emerging and they could yet become a viable option for some use cases in the future. 

But what actually is a hydrogen car and how do they stack up to petrol, diesel and electric vehicles? We have all you need to know right here, including the pros and cons of hydrogen cars, and what the future looks like for them. 

What is a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle?

Hydrogen cars, or hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (often shortened to FCEV), are vehicles powered by hydrogen fuel. Hydrogen is stored in a tank at 700 bar and is used to generate high-voltage electricity to a small buffer battery, which provides transient power for acceleration.

While many people tout hydrogen as the fuel of the future, the truth is that hydrogen cars have been around for decades. In 1998, Mercedes-Benz produced the first road-legal FCEV with the A-Class-based Necar.

How do hydrogen fuel cell vehicles work?

Cars draw their power from a fuel cell stack, where oxygen and hydrogen react to generate electricity, sending energy to an electric motor. This means they drive much like an electric car.

Hydrogen cars produce zero harmful emissions at the tailpipe, making them a much cleaner proposition petrol or diesel cars, at least from the driver’s point of view. 

How do you fill up a hydrogen car?

Hydrogen cars can be refuelled using a pump at a hydrogen filling station. Hydrogen filling stations look much like a regular petrol or diesel forecourt.

Refuelling a hydrogen car is a simple task – just open up the fuel filler cap and insert the pump. Typically, refuelling takes about five minutes. 

The hardest part of refuelling a hydrogen car in the UK is finding a filling station. According to UK H2 Mobility, there are just six hydrogen filling stations available for public motorists in the UK. 

Some are situated in Hatton Cross, London, Tullos in Aberdeen and the Advanced Manufacturing Park near Sheffield. There are plans for filling stations to be installed in Stockton-on-Tees, Glasgow and Newport.

British start-up Element 2 is also planning to open four filling stations in 2024. A further 30 pump locations will be identified, with plans to install additional pumps by the end of the year.

What’s the latest on hydrogen cars?

A lot is going on in the world of hydrogen cars, with Hyundai currently setting the pace.

The Korean car brand recently revealed the Initium concept, which previews the next-generation hydrogen-powered Nexo and its modern design.

It takes a single electric motor with 201bhp – 40bhp more than the existing Nexo – and Hyundai is aiming for a range of 404 miles between top-ups. 

The Initium previews a production model that’s due to be unveiled by next summer, but it’s unclear if it will ever come to the UK, considering that just 50 Nexos have been sold since it was launched five years ago.

Hydrogen cars available in the UK

Two hydrogen cars were until relatively recently available as new cars in the UK today and some car makers have hydrogen in their plans for production in the future. 

Toyota Mirai

The Toyota Mirai first appeared in 2015 and achieved 10,000 global sales before entering its second generation in 2021. The latest Mirai is equipped with a fuel stack capable of storing 5.6kg of hydrogen and has a WLTP range of up to 400 miles. 

Despite being heavier and larger than the first-generation car, it takes just 8.7sec to travel from 0-62mph and 25.5sec to hit 100mph. That’s thanks to a powertrain that produces 180bhp and 221lb ft of torque.

However, the Mirai wasn’t cheap when it was launched in 2021. It commanded a price of £64,995, and you can’t currently order one directly from Toyota.

Read our Toyota Mirai review

Hyundai Nexo

Hyundai has been developing fuel cell technology since the 1990s, and the Nexo is the firm’s first production hydrogen car. 

Priced similarly to the Mirai at £65,995, the Hyundai Nexo’s powertrain produces 161bhp and 291lb ft. Meanwhile, 0-62mph is completed in 9.6sec. 

The Nexo can store up to 6.33kg of hydrogen, which supplies power to a 1.56kWh battery. It offers a range of around 380 miles, and we were impressed by its solid driving dynamics and rolling refinement. 

There are fewer than 30 Nexos on UK roads today and, like the Mirai, it’s not currently available to order.

Read our Hyundai Nexo review

BMW iX5 Hydrogen

BMW formed a partnership with Toyota based around hydrogen technology and it plans to bring the iX5 Hydrogen to market in some form by 2030. 

With a 396bhp powertrain and 524lb ft of torque, it packs significantly more punch than the Toyota and Hyundai, backed up by its sub-6.0sec sprint from 0-62mph. 

Range stands at around 313 miles and our drive of the car revealed it to be comfortable, capable and almost ready for the road. It certainly paves the way for BMW’s entry into the world of hydrogen.

Read our BMW iX5 Hydrogen review

Pros of hydrogen cars

One of the biggest benefits of driving a hydrogen car is that it produces zero emissions from the tailpipe apart from water. That means it’s a lot more environmentally friendly to drive than a petrol or diesel car, and would be welcome in the ever-increasing number of clean air zones popping up around the UK. 

Hydrogen cars are also significantly faster to fill up than electric cars. Hydrogen is the most abundant element on the planet too. 

Some consider hydrogen cars to be more efficient than other powertrains, as hydrogen power uses between 40-60% of its fuel’s energy with a 50% reduction in fuel consumption. It’s not uncommon to see around 400 miles of travel on a single tank when using hydrogen. 

Unlike EVs, the range of a hydrogen car is not impacted by outside temperatures. 

Cons of hydrogen cars

While hydrogen cars can be more efficient and environmentally friendly for the driver, there are some drawbacks.

Emissions from the tailpipe might be zero, but there are significant environmental challenges with producing hydrogen on an industrial scale. 

Producing hydrogen at this level uses a significant amount of fossil fuel. According to tyre giant Pirelli, as much as 10kg of CO2 is produced for every kilogram of hydrogen. 

There are methods of producing hydrogen that use renewable energies, but these are currently far more expensive. Denmark, for example, produces hydrogen from wind, while Iceland uses geothermal energy to produce it. 

Hydrogen cars are also quite expensive to buy due to their complexity and the small number of refuelling stations is a significant black mark against this technology.

The future of hydrogen vehicles

Currently, hydrogen cars aren’t quite viable for the broader public. There are simply too few filling stations, and the hydrogen itself isn’t yet commercially or environmentally viable to produce en masse. 

But with investment from the UK government aiming to accelerate the implementation of hydrogen vehicles, we could see more car makers turn their efforts to this technology in the coming years. 

One such company hoping to drive the production of hydrogen vehicles is Williams Advanced Engineering, which revealed a platform for hydrogen electric vehicles in 2023.

It says the platform features a “cutting-edge” H2 fuel cell system and a liquid-cooled battery pack with up to 576bhp available. 

Elsewhere, Alpine has hinted that its radical V6 hydrogen car, called the Alpenglow, could make production. This combines a combustion engine with hydrogen power, which is injected into the cylinders to reduce toxic NOx emissions.

For the general public, though, it looks like the future of cars in the UK will remain electric until the infrastructure and hydrogen production methods have become more viable.