Taking a fuel-cell vehicle for a test drive: Quiet, familiar ride, for a price

The story of the hydrogen fuel-cell car has a frustrating chicken-and-egg quality.

The FCEV, short for fuel-cell electric vehicle, has been touted as the future of personal zero-emission motoring for the last 20 years.

And why not? It takes the most plentiful element on Earth, hydrogen, combines it with air and passes them through chemically-activated membranes in the the fuel-cell stack to produce electricity to power the car. The only byproducts when pure hydrogen is used are water and heat.

The hype around fuel-cells led many to believe we would all be able to buy an FCEV by now. Technological and cost hurdles proved more formidable than expected and public attention shifted to hybrids and battery-powered EVs, such as the Nissan Leaf and the luxury Tesla.

But the major automakers have stuck with it. They believe FCEVs will offer the range and flexibility of a conventional automobile, something battery EVs can’t do, even with the fastest recharging setups.

Players such as Honda, Toyota, Mercedes-Benz and Hyundai have customer-ready FCEVs on the road under special leasing programs in California, Scandinavia, Germany, Japan and Korea. All have programs to build fuelling stations. California, for instance, promises to have 50 by the end of next year.

But a studied lack of interest in building the necessary hydrogen fuelling stations has kept Canada, home of fuel-cell pioneer Ballard Power Systems, out of the game.

Oil companies have little interest in adding another pump, since they don’t make much profit on fuel, said Eric Denhoff, president of the Canadian Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Association.

“They make it on chips and chocolate bars in the gas station model,” he told Yahoo Canada News. “They’re not big hydrogen producers, so they don’t have a stake in the value chain, really.”

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Government, which enthused over fuel cells in the ‘90s and made early investments, has become skittish about committing tax dollars now, at least until they see what happens in Europe and elsewhere.

“The sector just didn’t perform as they expected, so they’re nervous,” said Denhoff.

Which brings us to the Hyundai Tucson FCEV, several examples of which are rolling on the streets of Vancouver in the hands of real-world customers right now.

Hyundai becomes first to roll out FCEVs to Canadian customers

The Korean auto giant has become the first to offer an FCEV leasing program in Canada, specifically Vancouver, the only city with the right kind of hydrogen fuelling station (yes, just one for now) to fill the Tucson’s tank.

“I think we broke that ice,” Hyundai Canada communications manager Chad Heard said in an interview.

The company became tired of the circular argument: Bring the cars and we’ll build the fueling stations; No, you build some stations and then we’ll bring the cars.

“We called the bluff, the cars are coming,” said Heard.

Hyundai is leasing a limited number – Heard won’t be precise but says less than 50 – on a three-year term at $599 a month and $3,600 down, to Metro Vancouver customers. The cost drops to $529 and no down payment once the B.C. government’s $6,000 incentive payment kicks in. The FCEVs are still far too expensive to buy outright.

Heard said Hyundai had hundreds of applicants for the Tucson FCEVs, limited in number to ensure customers had a positive experience through the suburban Surrey dealer handling the program. It’s also about all the small hydrogen fueling station, located at BC Hydro subsidiary Powertech Labs in Surrey, can handle.

Hyundai arranged for Yahoo to test the Tucson FCEV for a week to get an idea of what its customers will experience.

From a distance, the FCEV looks like any other Tucson, except for the big honeycomb “hydrogen-powered” decal mine had. Otherwise, you get tasteful badging identifying the SUV as a fuel-cell hydrogen EV.

Pop the hood, though, and there will be stuff you don’t recognize, like the nest of thick orange high-voltage cables snaking from the shielded fuel-cell stack connecting it to its booster battery, hydrogen supply nestled under the rear cargo area and the electric motor driving the front wheels.

A riffle through the thick owner’s manual will convince you there’s nothing for you to do under the hood anyway. There are a couple of fluid checks to be done but are best left to service technicians.

The main message from the book is not to tamper with anything at the risk — it says repeatedly — of serious shock or death. There are also explanations about what to do in the event of an accident or if a hydrogen leak or high-voltage warning light comes on; they boil down to get away from the vehicle.

It should be said at this point that there’s little likelihood of a fuel-cell EV going all Hindenburg on you. Leaking hydrogen, while explosive, dissipates quickly in air, faster than natural gas or propane and much faster than gasoline vapour.

“It just kind of disappears, whereas gasoline kind of sits there waiting for something to happen,” said Heard. “Out in the open hydrogen is very safe.”

The secret of introducing new technology – keep it looking familiar

Designers of alternate-energy vehicles such as hybrids and battery EVs have gone to some lengths to make the driving experience as close as possible to a regular internal-combustion car.

While techno geeks might want an interior that resembles a Star Trek shuttle, automakers know they can sell more vehicles to customers who feel they’re stepping into something familiar. The Tucson FCEV hues to that approach.

Slide into the leather-clad driver’s seat and you face a relatively normal dash, with an increasingly common start-stop button to the right of the steering wheel. But instead of cranking a starter, pushing it triggers a chiming response and, a couple of seconds later, a dash ready light that indicates the Tucson is set to go.

Like all EVs, the fuel-cell Tucson is as silent as a Rolls-Royce when it’s underway. It’s so silent, in fact, it’s equipped with a simulated engine sound that operates at low speeds and when reversing (the latter also actuating a beeper) so pedestrians can hear it coming.

I’ve driven a number of fuel-cell prototypes over the years, including an early Mercedes that clanked and wheezed, a well-sorted Ford Edge and Honda’s spacey-looking Clarity FCX (the exception to the no-futurism rule). The Tucson is the most normal vehicle of them all.

While the fuel-cell stack is the SUV’s main source of power, the Tucson is a kind of hybrid. Its battery pack, mounted amidships below the passenger cabin, acts as a booster under heavy loads such as driving uphill, then recharges during cruising.

All this happens seamlessly. The car moves off smartly from rest thanks to the inherent torque-y quality of its electric motor. It’s easy to get the traction control to kick in if you’re not careful.

A gauge in the recessed dash pod that includes the speedometer indicates fuel-cell power output and when the battery is being recharged via the cell stack or the car’s regenerative braking system, which capture waste energy under braking.

The Tucson accelerated effortlessly to freeway cruising speeds and provided good mid-range pickup for passing. It did labour a bit up the steepest Vancouver hills but never faltered.

Speaking of braking, the Tucson’s binders exhibit the grabbiness that characterizes most regenerative braking systems, especially at low speeds such as parking. It takes extra finesse to avoid looking like you just got your licence.

The Tucson has an estimated range of about 450 kilometres per full tank of hydrogen, though as with all forms of automotive propulsion, a lot depends on your right foot.

Fuelling hydrogen car not rocket science

Refuelling is pretty straightforward. A Powertech staffer did the work but the process looks similar to refilling a compressed natural-gas vehicle. Popping open the filler cap reveals high-pressure connector to which you attach the nozzle. Once it’s secured, he tapped a touch screen on the pump and the transfer began.

Powertech gets most of its hydrogen from an onsite electrolyzer that extracts it from water, augmented by deliveries of commercial hydrogen when needed.

The refueling process is accompanied by hissing and screeching as the super-cooled compressed hydrogen transfers to the vehicle. When finished, hydrogen in the line is vented safely above the pump, which also has a cutoff should someone forget and drive away with the hose still connected.

With a little practice, it should be possible for drivers to refuel their own vehicles. There’s likely less danger from a hydrogen leak than there is from spilled gasoline.

Nationwide use still years away

The Tucson represents an impressive technological achievement but for the time being it’s only going to be in the hands of a few Canadians. Denhoff predicts other automakers, perhaps Honda’s next-generation FCV or Toyota’s Mirai, will begin offering leased FCEVs within a couple of years, in B.C. at least.

Heard said the response to Hyundai’s initial program has opened other opportunities to expand, with cities in Ontario or Quebec the likeliest candidates if adequate fueling facilities can be developed. Or the company might also elect to grow its Vancouver fleet instead, he added.

“We think by demonstrating that we can lease these vehicles and the customers are happy and they’re using it on a daily basis, it proves this is a viable technology,” said Heard.

But it will take a concerted effort by industry, government and perhaps the automakers themselves to build a refuel network large enough to sustain high-volume sales of FCEVs at prices ordinary Canadians can afford.