This review has been updated with test results.

Whether the Earth's glass of hydrocarbons is half full or half empty is debatable, but the reality that fossil fuels are a finite source of fuel is not lost on automakers. It isn't a question of if but rather when. Either way, Hyundai is hedging its bets on a purely EV market with a new fuel-cell vehicle it calls the Nexo .

If you eliminate infrastructure issues from consideration for a moment, utilizing the most abundant element in the universe—hydrogen—as an energy source makes a lot of sense. According to Hyundai, hydrogen as a vehicular fuel is also a question of when. Unlike energy-storage devices such as batteries or capacitors, once H2 is captured and pressurized, the losses are minimal. Storing 100 kilowatt-hours in a battery for a year is impossible because the state of charge drops over time. Fuel cells do lose some of their efficiency in cold climates, but not nearly as dramatically as one will encounter with batteries. Yes, pressurized hydrogen can be dangerous. However, there are other ways to store hydrogen for long durations—in ammonia, for example—that involve less risk.

View Photos Hyundai

Fuel Range of Motion

According to Hyundai's analysis, using a hydrogen fuel cell in a two-ton car such as its Nexo starts to make financial sense once the target range surpasses 220 miles. As range gets longer, it makes even more sense, because making a fuel-cell car go farther on a single fill-up doesn't require adding heavy batteries at a diminishing return to efficiency; all you do is add another or a larger H2 tank. This break-even point is inversely proportional to mass. An 11-ton fuel-cell bus, like the few prototypes Hyundai had floating around at the 2018 Winter Olympics , is cheaper than a battery bus at a target range of 60 miles. The point is, all the cost of a fuel cell is in the stack. You add range by adding fuel rather than a bigger stack, while going farther on battery power means a bigger battery with diminishing returns from adding mass.

The 2019 Nexo Limited, like the one we tested, has an EPA estimated range of 354 miles. The slightly more efficient base Nexo Blue, while sharing its three 10,000-psi tanks that hold a total of 6.3 kg of hydrogen with the Limited, offers an EPA range of 380 miles. (For reference, one kilogram of H2 has roughly the same energy as a gallon of gasoline.) That just barely knocks off the 366-mile Honda Clarity as the fuel-cell range king. A battery EV with this kind of range is usually just vaporware that a megalomaniac touts in a sparsely attended press conference. And Hyundai is actually selling its Nexo, not leasing it. All other Hyundai fuel-cell cars before, such as the Tucson Fuel Cell , have been offered on limited-term leases. Hyundai has finally refined the durability of the fuel-cell stack to a point where it is confident it will run with little problem for 10 years.

View Photos Hyundai

That stack, which Hyundai has reduced in size, mass (it's down to 196 pounds from 231 in the Tucson Fuel Cell), and cost (it contains only 56 grams of expensive platinum, where the Tucson's needed 78), is where all the science happens. By combining hydrogen and oxygen captured from the ambient air, a fuel cell generates electricity and water. That electricity feeds a 161-hp electric motor under the hood and drives the Nexo's front wheels through a direct-drive gearbox. Not that the car is offered in many places where a cold start is critical, but Hyundai also improved the fuel cell's cold-weather performance, with the ability to start in conditions as cold as minus 22 degrees Fahrenheit.

It Drives Like a Car

Exterior styling is undoubtedly Hyundai with the corporate cascading grille and split headlights (the primary lights are in a separate aperture below the LED daytime running lights). Automated flush door handles add a futuristic detail, while aero-focused 18- or 19-inch wheels and D-pillar roof buttresses improve the ever critical aerodynamic performance. Sizewise, it fits between the current Tucson and the new Santa Fe , being longer and wider than the former and riding on a longer wheelbase than the latter. There is 30 cubic feet of cargo space behind the comfortable-for-adults second row, one cube less than in the Tucson.

A two-spoke steering wheel, a pair of 12.3-inch displays, a push-button transmission, and a floating center stack combine for an interior that looks nothing like that of any other Hyundai, save only the typeface for the various controls. It's an airy cabin with full-width design elements to aid that sense of space.

View Photos Hyundai

Quick the Nexo is not. It reached 60 mph in 8.4 seconds in our testing, which is quicker than Hyundai's estimate of 9.5 seconds but not exactly swift. The instant torque of the Nexo's motor, however, provides enough thrust to get up to cruising speed before the end of a highway on-ramp. That sounds like a low bar to reach, and it is, but that shouldn't deter anyone from considering the Nexo in their contemplations about an ultra-efficient car. All three of the Toyota Prius Primes we've tested took more than 10 seconds to get to 60 mph, and they still drink gasoline. (Ew!) In our comparison test of the Honda Clarity and Toyota's fuel-cell Mirai, the Mirai did the deed in 8.9 seconds. The hot rod of the hydrogen class is the Honda, clocked at 8.1 seconds to 60 mph in the comparison test.

The Nexo's electrically assisted steering is appropriately tuned, on the light side with no slop. Its skidpad and braking numbers—it grips at 0.82 g and stops from 70 mph in 169 feet—are both considerably better than the Mirai's and the Clarity's. A highway autonomy system similar to Tesla's Autopilot is standard, as are all the expected active-safety features such as blind-spot monitoring and automated emergency braking. The mild autonomy, which Hyundai calls Highway Driving Assist and Lane Following Assist, isn't quite as seamless as the competition's. There is some ping-ponging in a lane. It isn't the worst in this regard, but it certainly isn't the best, either.

View Photos Hyundai

H2, Brute?

By 2019, Hyundai estimates California will have upward of 100 hydrogen refueling stations, which is why the company will only sell the Nexo there. With a starting price of $59,345, the Nexo isn't going to change the marketplace. That may have to wait until 2021, the year Hyundai has promised Level 4 autonomy in the Nexo. But for the nap-to-work mode to function, the cars must be in a connected city. Like hydrogen refueling stations, those are few and far between.

For fuel-cell cars to reach legitimate market penetration, the United States would need to invest billions in the infrastructure. Even if a revolutionary leap in propulsion technology replaces gasoline without so much as adding a whiff of inconvenience to the consumer, not having to drive is the one convenience the public is begging for these days. We're willing to bet that the hydrogen "when" is going to trail the autonomous "when" by a fair margin.

Specifications Specifications 2019 Hyundai Nexo Limited VEHICLE TYPE

front-motor, front-wheel-drive, 5-passenger, 4-door hatchback PRICE AS TESTED

$62,845 (base price: $62,845) MOTOR TYPE

Induction AC, 161 hp, 291 lb-ft; 1.6-kWh lithium-ion battery pack FUEL-CELL TYPE

proton-exchange membrane, 95 kW TRANSMISSION

1-speed direct drive CHASSIS

Suspension (F/R): struts/multilink

Brakes (F/R): 12.6-in vented disc/11.9-in disc

Tires: Michelin Primacy Tour A/S, 245/45R-19 98W M+S DIMENSIONS

Wheelbase: 109.8 in

Length: 183.9 in

Width: 73.2 in

Height: 64.2 in

Passenger volume: 101 cu ft

Trunk volume: 30 cu ft

Curb weight: 4059 lb C/D

TEST RESULTS

Zero to 60 mph: 8.4 sec

Zero to 100 mph: 44.7 sec

Rolling start, 5–60 mph: 8.3 sec

Top gear, 30–50 mph: 3.5 sec

Top gear, 50–70 mph: 5.7 sec

Standing ¼-mile: 16.8 sec @ 79 mph

Top speed (governor limited, C/D est): 105 mph

Braking, 70–0 mph: 169 ft

Roadholding, 300-ft-dia skidpad: 0.82 g EPA FUEL ECONOMY:

Combined/city/highway: 57/59/54 MPGe

Range: 354 mi Expand Collapse

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