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posted by CoolHand on Sunday August 23 2015, @06:38AM   Printer-friendly
from the getting-closer-all-the-time dept.

Original URL: El Reg has a story on Hyundai's new fuel cell car:

Ask me what my ideal electric car would be and I'll probably tell you one with a range of 400 miles and a three-minute charge time. Shame no such car exists, I hear you say. Not so. I drove just such a vehicle last week.

Hyundai's ix35 Fuel Cell is part technology demonstration, part run-of-the-mill, commercially available motor vehicle. Right now you can buy one off the shelf from Hyundai UK, though there are certain compromises to be made.

All the vehicles on sale or already sold in the UK (and that's exactly 17 at the time of writing) are LHD thanks to the fuel cell sitting where the steering column would need to be.

And they are all front-wheel drive only because one of the hydrogen fuel tanks takes up the space needed by the gubbins that usually drives the back wheels. Oh, and it will cost you over fifty grand. And, erm, there are only three hydrogen filling stations in the UK right now.

LHD only. And no 4WD. And a £50,000 price tag. So not quite mainstream yet

But if you can overlook those four drawbacks the ix35 Fuel Cell is a highly desirable little wagon which drives just like any other good, modern EV but without any of the range restrictions imposed by current battery technology.

Motive power is supplied by a 100kW (136ps) electric motor which in turn is connected to a 24kWh lithium-ion polymer battery jointly developed by Hyundai and LG Chemical. The drive motor takes power from either the battery or a combination of the battery and the 100kW hydrogen fuel cell, depending on driving conditions.

The battery meanwhile can be charged by the fuel cell and by the regenerative braking system. When you do put your foot down the ix35 will hit 60mph in 12.5 seconds and roll up to a maximum speed of 100mph.

100kW electric motor gives the ix35 Fuel Cell decent performance. 0-62 yours in 12.5 seconds but feels faster on the road

Of course as will all electric cars those performance numbers are rather meaningless. The always-available 300Nm of torque makes for very eager and serene progress at all speeds up to the legal limit. It's impressively quiet too, and agile.

The last came as a bit of a surprise to me since the ix35 FC has to carry an extra 150kg around compared with the petrol version. Hyundai's engineers have done a good job keeping the centre of gravity as low as possible and in tuning the suspension to cope with the extra weight.

Refuelling the ix35 couldn't be simpler. Just roll up to a hydrogen filling station (right now there are stations at Heathrow, Hendon and Swindon and three coming to London by year end), pop the filler cap cover, plug in the 700 bar hydrogen fuelling nozzle and ... well that's it.


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 23 2015, @08:49AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 23 2015, @08:49AM (#226609)

    Where are the boffins? I was promised boffins.

  • (Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Sunday August 23 2015, @09:00AM

    by tangomargarine (667) on Sunday August 23 2015, @09:00AM (#226613)

    and gubbins too, apparently.

    --
    "Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
    • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Sunday August 23 2015, @11:58AM

      by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Sunday August 23 2015, @11:58AM (#226643) Journal

      gubbins is a word apparently as old as mid 16 century, compared to boffin which is a neologism starting its life in 1940-es.

      In translation in American English, the old venerable "gubbins" becomes "thingamajig" - you like it better?

      --
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 23 2015, @02:09PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 23 2015, @02:09PM (#226660)

        It's not thingamajig, it's doohickey.