Stellantis has disclosed the up coming move in its purpose to come to be a zero-emissions auto firm with a new hydrogen gasoline cell powered medium-sized van.
The new product – not nevertheless disclosed – is based mostly on the system-sharing Citroen e-Dispatch/Peugeot e-Skilled/Vauxhall Vivaro-e electrical vans, but the technologies is replaced by a new hydrogen gasoline cell program.
The established-up is explained by Stellantis as a mid-electricity program. It includes a 60bhp gasoline cell stack underneath the bonnet, which is connected to three hydrogen tanks that can carry 4.4kg of hydrogen and are mounted underneath the cargo flooring, in put of the electrical van’s 50kWh battery.
In addition, you can find a ten.5kWh battery mounted underneath the seats which can be plugged in to be recharged. This provides electricity for the 121bhp electrical motor which drives the entrance wheels and gives up to 31 miles of array on its possess. Stellantis claims that the blended gasoline cell program will be easily capable of much more than 250 miles (subject to official WLTP checks) of zero-emissions driving, whilst three-minute refill situations for the hydrogen program are much shorter than individuals for the electrical vans.
The established-up is built to combine electricity sources, so the battery provides electricity from a standstill, at reduced speeds and underneath acceleration, whilst the gasoline cell usually takes above at cruising speeds when a lot less vitality is wanted. As with full EVs, the program recoups vitality back into the battery when coasting or decelerating.
Given that the gasoline cell program is built-in into the existing medium-sized van system, cargo volume has not been compromised, whilst Stellantis claims a payload of up to 1.1 tonnes, relying on van sizing. The van will be presented in medium and very long panel van guises.
Development of the gasoline cell program was led by Opel’s R&D department with enter from Peugeot/Citroen and French hydrogen authorities Faurecia and Symbio. This joint energy has sped up progress and implies the 1st vans will hit the roads before the close of 2021.
Hydrogen charging stations are still scarce throughout Europe, but these new versions have been given immediate funding from the German authorities for their progress, and are backed by a multi-billion Euros financial commitment in EU hydrogen charging infrastructure becoming rolled out by French and German governments ahead of the EU’s target for carbon neutrality in 2050.
At present there are 25 hydrogen refuelling details in France, and ninety in Germany, with much more becoming added each month.
Stellantis’s hydrogen gasoline cell tech is for vans only at the minute, but it could easily make the leap to passenger autos in the kind of the Citroen SpaceTourer and Peugeot Traveller MPVs. There are presently no ideas to produce a hydrogen Vauxhall Vivaro van, for the reason that the gasoline cell program has only been created for still left-hand push versions. On the other hand, Stellantis sees this venture as its 1st move in hydrogen gasoline cell progress, and it will push study into its 2nd-generation methods for its wide array of vehicles and vans.
Charges are to be confirmed, but Stellantis is seeking to maintain costs as reduced as achievable by working with its existing van tech and bringing in hydrogen authorities to accelerate its progress. The business is focusing on complete cost of ownership (TCO) and seeking to bring in as numerous corporations on board from the get started to aid decrease costs.
Click listed here to go through our review of the all-electrical Vauxhall Vivaro-e van…
