Hyundai FCEV cars rolling out

Hyundai is planning to have more than 50 fuel cell cars operating in London by the end of next year, proving a technology that has been a long time promised, writes Brian Byrne.

The carmaker is the first in the world to put FCEVs into production, and plans 1,000 of the hydrogen powered cars to be sold by 2015.

The ix35 vehicles make their own electricity by means of a chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen in a fuel cell stack. With a similar range on a tank of hydrogen as petrol or diesel, the cars emit only water vapour.

There are plans in place to have 300 hydrogen fuel stations around the country in 2025, and four times that number five years further on.

Experts reckon the cost of an FCEV and diesel vehicles could be the same by 2030.