Fuel cell car

A memorable day today. It is the first time that I have driven a fuel cell car - hailed by some as the long term future of motoring - in a production model and on the road. A couple of times in the past I have driven prototype fuel cell vehicles on test tracks, in Germany and in South Korea. This time it was the real thing, and out on the roads of Buckinghamshire.

This is the Hyundai ix35 Fuel Cell, the world's first production model with this technology, and you can buy one if you have £53,105 burning a hole in your bank balance. That buys a car that can currently only be refuelled at 11 places in the whole of Britain, and at eight of them you have to ring up in advance and make an appointment.

No, it doesn't run on hydrogen, as some wrongly believe. It runs on electricity generated by the hydrogen-fed fuel cell stack that sits under the bonnet of this otherwise normal-looking car.