Let’s start with the Nexo. This is Hyundai’s latest foray into fuel-cell technology, or hydrogen powered cars. In a nutshell, hydrogen is used to create electricity and the charged particles are then put to use to move the vehicle.
For many, hydrogen equals BOOM, fire and death, in other words, the Hindenburg. We long ago left the days of not exactly knowing what we were doing with H2.
The Euro NCAP is Europe’s equivalent to North America’s NHTSA and IIHS. Like the latter two, the Euro NCAP crash tests new vehicles in order to determine their crash-worthiness. Based on the result, they award the vehicle a number of stars where the more there are, the better the chances of surviving the crash.
The maximum rating is five stars and this is the rating awarded to the Hyundai Nexo. Not only is the Nexo generally intact but, as you can see, no explosion took place following the test. The issue with FCVs is clearly not safety so that leaves finding hydrogen itself. That, however, is a whole other debate.
