The world record for the longest distance driven by a hydrogen-powered vehicle on a single tank has been broken by an Australian rally driver.

Brendan Reeves covered 887.5 km in a Hyundai Nexo hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV), from Melbourne to the outback town of Silverton, and was verified by the Australian National Roads and Motorists’ Association.

“Being a rally driver, I’ve always wanted to achieve a world record, but I could never have guessed it would come about this way,” said Reeves having set the new record.

The journey did not break any speed records.  Over a duration of 13 hours the average speed was 66.9 km/h.  The first fuel warning light appeared at 686 km, which then started flashing at 796 km.  6.27 kg of hydrogen was consumed by the car at a rate of 0.706 kg per 100km, and obviously there were zero emissions, with only droplets of water and water vapour being emitted from the exhaust.

The Hyundai Nexo now holds the top two world records for longest distances covered on a single tank of hydrogen fuel, and emits nothing more than water droplets from the exhaust. Hydrogen vehicles take the same time to refuel as a diesel or petrol car.

Prior to this the French aeronaut Bertrand Piccard held the record at 778km from Sarreguemines and Le Bourget in France, also driving a Hyundai Nexo.

Reeves continued “I was constantly checking the Nexo’s efficiency readout to maximise the distance I was getting per kilogram of hydrogen. I found that by using techniques from rally driving, such as looking as far down the road as possible, as well as tips I have learned from my dad for driving a truck efficiently over long distances, it’s actually possible to go way beyond Nexo’s official range”.