With the launch of the new Hyundai NEXO in Korea, a decisive question arises in Europe: while hydrogen stations are being closed, Hyundai doubles down on fuel-cell mobility. What does this mean for the energy transition and for the future role of hydrogen in our system? At the Green Energy Center Europe (GEC), we have spent ten years testing battery and hydrogen mobility under real conditions. Here is what reality tells us today.

Waste of money? A vehicle raises a much bigger question

Hyundai has officially introduced the next generation of the NEXO in Korea with improved technology, higher range, and the ambition to become a core element of future energy systems. At the same time, we are witnessing the opposite trend in Europe:

• Hydrogen stations are being closed
• Subsidies are expiring
• Media reports speak of a “hydrogen crisis”

This creates a paradox: Why is Hyundai investing in new fuel cell vehicles (FCEVs), while Europe seems to be stepping away from hydrogen mobility? This question is crucial and it leads to a bigger insight: The problem is not technology. The question is: Does our energy system already match the technology we have?

Questions the new NEXO raises:

• Is hydrogen mobility really dead or just waiting for the right system?
• Why does Hyundai invest when Europe steps back?
• Can battery-electric vehicles alone stabilise the energy system?
• What do ten years of real-world tests at the GEC tell us?

What Hyundai is Really Signalling

In their global communication, Hyundai makes one thing clear: The new NEXO is not just a car, it is part of a diversified electrification strategy, where battery electric vehicles (BEV) and fuel-cell vehicles (FCEV) work together within the same energy system.

According to Hyundai, this is what the new NEXO is designed to enable:

• Higher tank capacity & expected range over 800 km (WLTP)
• More efficient, long-life fuel cell system
• Mass production planned in Europe and North America
• Integration into decentralised energy networks
• Synergy with logistics, industrial heat, and heavy-duty transport

Key message: The vehicle is ready. Now the energy system must evolve to use its full potential

Insights from the Green Energy Center Europe, ten years of reality check

At the Living Lab of the Green Energy Center Europe, battery vehicles and hydrogen vehicles have been tested and operated under real conditions for over 10 years. Thousands of managers, students, technicians, entrepreneurs and citizens have been trained on-site.

A remarkable pattern emerged:

Whenever hydrogen was explained as part of a larger energy system, people immediately understood – and wanted to know how to use it in practice.

They did not argue about efficiency percentages, they asked:

• Can I store my own solar power?
• Can I heat my business with hydrogen?
• Can I reduce fossil dependency?
• Can I refuel locally instead of importing energy?
• Can I stabilise my grid connection?

This is not ideology. It is a practical need. Battery vehicles are often perceived as the extension of the power socket. Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles, however, are seen as a toolkit for future autonomy and energy security.

The Codex perspective: We are not Hydrogen Supporters, we are System Thinkers.

Hydrogen is not a matter of faith; it forms part of the system’s logic.

“Resource, Demand, Coverage of Demand” is not an opinion. It is physics and economics.

A climate-neutral and autonomous energy system cannot rely on electrons alone. It needs molecules, storage capacity, flexible demand, and sector coupling.

Therefore, the essential question is not:

“Which drivetrain has the highest efficiency per kilometre?”

But rather:

“What stabilises the energy system, so it can serve industry, mobility, heat and resilience at the same time?”

This is not speculation. It is what we test daily in the Living Lab.

What Comes Next

In Spring 2026, we plan to present the new Hyundai NEXO in Austria, together with our Codex Partner Hyundai Austria, at the Green Energy Center Europe in Innsbruck, not as a showroom event, not as a hype machine, but as another piece of verified reality.

“The technology is ready. Now we must build the system around it with people who understand responsibility and opportunity.”

Read on to find out more

• Neuer Nexo kämpft gegen die Wasserstoff-Krise
• Hydrogen between Hope and Hype – From Innsbruck to Athens

Author

Nikolaus Fleischhacker, FEN Research GmbH,
in cooperation with the Living Lab editorial team at the Green Energy Centre Europe in Innsbruck
Photo credit: Hyundai Motors, FEN Systems