Hyundai Australia imports zero-emission ix35 Fuel Cell

Not happy leaving all the enviro-glory to Tesla, Hyundai has welcomed the first of a fleet of hydrogen-powered ix35 Fuel Cell vehicles into Australia.

The zero-emission ix35 Fuel Cell is the world's first mass-produced hydrogen-powered vehicle, and Hyundai plans to operate a fleet of them from Australia, with testing and demonstration drives commencing early 2015.

The ix35 Fuel Cell runs on Hydrogen and only emits water vapour – the hydrogen from the car's fuel tank mixes with air and is converted to electricity by a fuel cell stack, which then powers the car's electric motor.

Hyundai claims the ix35 Fuel Cell has a maximum range of 594km, and produces 100kW of power with 300Nm of torque.

Hydrogen Highways

As part of Hyundai's environmental ambitions, installation has also begun on Australia's first Hydrogen Refuelling Station (HRS) at the Macquarie Park Hyundai headquarters in Sydney's north west.

The HRS is scheduled to commence operation in early 2015, and Hyundai hopes it will be the first step towards building 'Hydrogen Highways' for Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (FCEV) like the ix35 Fuel Cell across Australia, similar to ones proposed in Europe and the US.

Whether or not Hyundai has any success will likely depend on the enthusiasm of governments and other private investors for trumping up the not inconsiderable cost for such a project.

• Interested in electric cars? The Audi A3 Sportback e-tron is headed to Australia in 2015.