Australian Hyundai rally driver Brendan Reeves drove a production-spec Nexo for the record attempt, starting from the Essendon Fields in Melbourne. After 807 km of efficiency-focused driving, Reeves arrived in Broken Hill with plenty of range still showing on the vehicle’s trip computer.
The journey then continued to Silverton, an outback town on the outskirts of Broken Hill, best known as the setting for 1980s post-apocalyptic action film Mad Max 2 (aka "The Road Warrior"), and the car then travelled some 60 km beyond before the Nexo’s hydrogen tank was depleted on the Wilangee road beyond Eldee Station.
The total distance driven was 887.5
km, according to the Nexo’s own trip computer, exceeding the previous
world record of 778 km set by French aeronaut Bertrand Piccard, also at
the wheel of a Nexo, on his journey across France from Sarreguemines to
Le Bourget.
A representative from the RACV was on hand to seal
the Nexo’s tank at the start of the journey, and an NRMA representative
confirmed the validity of the tank seal at the end.
The distance measured by an isolated GPS unit on board the Nexo registered 903.4 km, while the Google Maps distance showed 905 km travelled. However, for the purposes of the test, the Nexo’s own trip computer is used as the official distance recorder.
The trip took 13 hours and 6 minutes at an average speed of 66.9 km/h. The Nexo’s low fuel warning first lit up at 686 km, with over 200 km of range left from that point. The fuel light started flashing after 796 km, with 90 km of real range remaining.
During the trip the Nexo consumed a total of 6.27 kg of hydrogen, at a rate of 0.706 kg/100km. It purified 449,100 litres of air on the journey - enough for 33 adults to breathe in a day - its plastic exhaust pipe emitting only water in vapour and droplet form throughout the trip. It emitted zero CO2, where a standard internal combustion engine vehicle would have emitted about 126 kg of CO2 over the same distance.
