It wasn’t long ago that using hydrogen to fuel a car was laughed off by automotive industry experts. Tesla’s co-founder, Elon Musk, called the idea “extremely silly” former US secretary of energy, Steven Chu emphasised the need for four miracles to make hydrogen cars a reality, noting that “saints only need three miracles”

Despite the general pessimism from the top minds of the automotive sector, hydrogen has not only survived, but prospered in recent years. Just in 2016 alone, Audi and Mercedes-Benz have either rolled out, the new Audi h-tron Quattro, or are in the midst of producing hydrogen fuelled cars.

They join a list of industry heavyweights already dabbling in hydrogen fuelled engines that includes General Motors, BMW, Toyota and Honda.

When asked by Mark Brush of Michigan Radio on the reason for utilising hydrogen despite reservations from industry experts, John Mendel, executive vice president of American Honda said “We don’t think they’re silly, we think, you know, hydrogen is still the most abundant element in the universe. And that technology is fast changing.”