Hydrogen

A silent race is on between Toyota and Hyundai to launch Australia’s first fleet of hydrogen-powered cars. And as these photos show, it is going to be a close contest – with the first of 20 Toyota Mirai sedans arriving in Australia to compete with the first 20 hydrogen-powered Hyundai Nexo SUVs that have already arrived.

Australia will soon have 40 hydrogen-powered cars on local roads – even though there is only one refuelling station nationally to date. In addition to 20 Hyundai Nexo hydrogen-powered SUVs due to hit the road next month, Toyota has confirmed it will import 20 Toyota Mirai hydrogen fuel cell sedans from next year.

The Hopium Māchina – an ultra-luxury hydrogen-electric concept – has been launched by 29-year-old French racing driver Olivier Lombard. Hydrogen vehicles use a fuel cell to generate electricity and power a motor. While they are substantially rarer than traditional electric cars powered by lithium-ion batteries, notable examples include the Toyota Mirai and Hyundai Nexo. However, the Hydrogen Motive Company, which Lombard founded earlier this year, believes it can become a volume player.

Honda has withdrawn its sole electric vehicle (EV) offering – the Clarity, which is also sold as a plug-in hybrid and hydrogen-powered vehicle – from the United States market after only three years of sale in the region. The Clarity name will continue but with a plug-in electric variant and hydrogen-powered variant – the latter only available in California. According to a report from Statist, there were approximately 245,000 full-electric vehicles sold in the United States in 2019.

The Hyundai HDC-6 Neptune fuel-cell truck has been teased ahead of its release at the North American Commercial Vehicle Show in Atlanta. Hyundai has positioned itself as a leader alongside Toyota in the hydrogen fuel-cell world. It currently offers the Nexo fuel-cell crossover overseas, and will be bringing 20 to Australian roads as part of a trial involving Canberra government staff.