Driving.ca: “British Columbia’s original car-sharing co-operative has teamed with a Korean automaker to offer hydrogen-powered vehicles to its membership.”

On Monday night, on the eve of the 99th Vancouver International Auto Show, Modo and Hyundai Canada announced a partnership that will see two 2019 Hyundai Nexo fuel-cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) enter the car-sharing company’s fleet in the coming weeks.

“We’ve thought for some time that Modo would be a great platform to get people to experience fuel-cell vehicles,” said Modo CEO Patrick Nangle.

But with no public hydrogen fuelling stations, the concept was a non-starter. That changed when last year Shell, working with the B.C. government, opened one of Canada’s first public fuelling stations in Vancouver’s Marpole community.

Modo then began discussions with Hyundai Canada about providing fuel-cell vehicles to its fleet, and the all-new Nexo proved the perfect fit. One will be located near the Shell station in Marpole and one downtown.

Hyundai Canada sees the partnership as not just a marketing tool, but also as a way of educating the public about hydrogen-powered vehicles, which are essentially electric vehicles that instead of plugging in to recharge, you fill with hydrogen gas.

“Our initial idea was to do some kind of car-sharing, and we knew Vancouver would be the market we wanted to do it in,” noted Don Romano, president and CEO of Hyundai Auto Canada Corp. “But it had to be the right kind of company, and we found the entrepreneurial spirit was alive and well in (Modo).

Modo started in 1997 as the first and only car-share co-operative in B.C., and today has more than 22,000 members across the Lower Mainland, Vancouver Island, the Okanagan and Squamish.

And while the two Nexos represent a very small percentage of the 700 cars, trucks, SUVs and vans in the Modo fleet, they’ll give Modo members a chance to experience what it’s like to drive a hydrogen-powered vehicle.

Even if you’re not a Modo member, you can drive a Nexo at the public EV test-drive event at the auto show through Sunday.