How does Hyundai's Nexo fuel-cell car work in the real world?

Hyundai claims to have "broken the world record for the longest distance travelled in a hydrogen-powered vehicle on a single refueling" after French aeronaut Bertrand Piccard drove a Nexo 778km - and ended the drive with 49km distance-to-empty remaining.

What was the old record? We're not sure there ever was one - at least in official terms. Please feel free to enlighten us.

But Hyundai did claim a journey of 653km on a single tank in its previous FCEV, the ix35, back in 2016, as well as a record for the longest "continuous journey" in a fuel-cell car after hopping between hydrogen filling stations around London's M25 ring road for 9810km.

SUPPLIED A car - even a hydrogen one - is probably a bit boring for aeronaut Bertrand Piccard.

Whatever the case, 778km from the Nexo is still impressive. The official WLTP figure for the car is 660km.

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Piccard, who is also president of the Solar Impulse Foundation, left the FaHyence hydrogen station in Sarreguemines, France on Monday 25 November, and arrived the next day at the Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace in Le Bourget – a distance of 778km.

SUPPLIED Journey of 778km betters the Nexo's official range by more than 100km.

Hyundai also claims that the car purified air on the journey equivalent to the volume that 23 adults breathe every day. Hydrogen vehicles require extremely clean air for the chemical reaction that creates electricity inside the fuel cells.

A long drive is hardly a challenge for Piccard, whose adventures include the first round-the-world trip in a balloon with Breitling Orbiter and the first round-the-world trip in a solar plane with Solar Impulse.

This time, Piccard was able to take passengers along. Those in the passenger seat along the way included Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg, Bruno Le Maire, Minister of Economy and Finance, Elisabeth Borne, Minister of Ecological and Solidarity Transition and Prince Albert II of Monaco.

SUPPLIED Piccard has been a Hyundai ambassador since 2017.

His arrival was celebrated in the setting of "Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace" in Le Bourget, a reference to Bertrand Piccard's aerial exploits.

Hyundai says the Nexo is evidence of its refusal to take a "dogmatic position on alternative energies". It claims to have the widest choice of electrified powertrains on the market.

Piccard initiated a programme called 1000 Efficient and Profitable Solutions to Protect the Environment, with the Solar Impulse Foundation. Hyundai Motor France has used him as an ambassador since 2017.

Hyundai Motor France and Bertrand Piccard organised a major conference in Paris in September 2018, which, for the first time brought together all the players in the hydrogen sector in France.

The numbers

Number of kilometers travelled: 778km.

Remaining range displayed on the counter: 49km.

Air purification: 404.6 kL, the volume of air that 23 adults breathe every day.

CO2 reduction: 111.2 kg, the amount of gas emitted by vehicles of the same category over 778km.