Stellantis reveals its first steps in Hydrogen Fuel Cell technology

Stellantis has revealed the following step in its aim to grow to be a zero-emissions auto business with a new hydrogen fuel mobile run medium-sized van. 

The new design – not nevertheless revealed – is based mostly on the platform-sharing Citroen e-Dispatch/Peugeot e-Expert/Vauxhall Vivaro-e electric vans, but the technology is replaced by a new hydrogen fuel mobile procedure.

The set-up is described by Stellantis as a mid-electrical power procedure. It includes a 60bhp fuel mobile stack less than the bonnet, which is related to three hydrogen tanks that can have 4.4kg of hydrogen and are mounted less than the cargo ground, in spot of the electric van’s 50kWh battery. 

In addition, there is certainly a ten.5kWh battery mounted less than the seats which can be plugged in to be recharged. This provides electrical power for the 121bhp electric motor which drives the front wheels and provides up to 31 miles of assortment on its very own. Stellantis claims that the combined fuel mobile procedure will be very easily able of extra than 250 miles (matter to official WLTP checks) of zero-emissions driving, although three-moment refill moments for the hydrogen procedure are far shorter than all those for the electric vans.

The set-up is intended to combine electrical power sources, so the battery provides electrical power from a standstill, at lower speeds and less than acceleration, although the fuel mobile normally takes about at cruising speeds when fewer electricity is necessary. As with total EVs, the procedure recoups electricity back into the battery when coasting or decelerating.

Because the fuel mobile procedure is built-in into the current medium-sized van platform, cargo volume has not been compromised, although Stellantis claims a payload of up to one.one tonnes, relying on van size. The van will be supplied in medium and long panel van guises.

Progress of the fuel mobile procedure was led by Opel’s R&D section with input from Peugeot/Citroen and French hydrogen industry experts Faurecia and Symbio. This joint hard work has sped up advancement and means the initial vans will hit the roads in advance of the conclusion of 2021.

Hydrogen charging stations are nonetheless scarce throughout Europe, but these new types have received immediate funding from the German authorities for their advancement, and are backed by a multi-billion Euros financial commitment in EU hydrogen charging infrastructure becoming rolled out by French and German governments forward of the EU’s concentrate on for carbon neutrality in 2050. 

At the moment there are twenty five hydrogen refuelling details in France, and ninety in Germany, with extra becoming included each and every month.

Stellantis’s hydrogen fuel mobile tech is for vans only at the instant, but it could very easily make the leap to passenger automobiles in the sort of the Citroen SpaceTourer and Peugeot Traveller MPVs. There are now no options to generate a hydrogen Vauxhall Vivaro van, simply because the fuel mobile procedure has only been produced for left-hand generate types. On the other hand, Stellantis sees this job as its initial step in hydrogen fuel mobile advancement, and it will generate research into its 2nd-era programs for its wide assortment of vehicles and vans.

Selling prices are to be confirmed, but Stellantis is seeking to retain costs as lower as probable by using its current van tech and bringing in hydrogen industry experts to speed up its advancement. The company is concentrating on complete charge of possession (TCO) and seeking to attract as lots of enterprises on board from the start to help lessen costs.

Click here to examine our assessment of the all-electric Vauxhall Vivaro-e van…