Balloonist sets H2 record in a Hyundai Nexo

French aeronaut and Solar Impulse Foundation president Bertrand Piccard has set a world record for the longest distance in a hydrogen-powered vehicle on a single refuelling.

Driving a Hyundai Nexo fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV), Piccard left the FaHyence hydrogen station in Sarreguemines on November 25, a place chosen because of the Grand Est Region’s commitment to responsible mobility, and arrived the next day at the Musée de l’Air et de l’Espace in Le Bourget –778km away.

It still had 49km available in fuel, the journey’s purpose to promote hydrogen technology as a high-performance solution for future mobility.

Never before has a production car powered by a hydrogen fuel cell covered so many kilometres on a single charge, Hyundai reports.

Piccard did 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, but this time he was able to take passengers.

They included Grand Est Region president Jean Rottner, grand duke Henri of Luxembourg, Dordogne MP and National Assembly Hydrogen Study Group president Michel Delpon, Air Liquide chief executive officer Benoît Potier, economy and finance minister Bruno Le Maire, ecological and solidarity transition minister Elisabeth Borne, and prince Albert II of Monaco.

“With this adventure, we have proven that with clean technologies we no longer need revolutionary experimental prototypes to break records,” Piccard says.

“Everyone can now do it with standard zero-emission vehicles.

“A new era in performance is beginning, for the benefit of environmental protection.”

Piccard is committed to the planet through the challenge of 1000 Efficient and Profitable Solutions to Protect the Environment, which he initiated with the Solar Impulse Foundation, and he has been an ambassador for Hyundai Motor France since 2017.

Hyundai says it is already responding to changes in the car market by offering one of the widest choices of electrified powertrains.