Will the cars of the future be on tap or hydrogen?

23 October 20222 years ago babelfish

The number of European manufacturers contesting the choice of Brussels to favor electricity is on the increase. But even beyond our borders, there are not a few brands that bet on hydrogen cars. Facts and insights

Although the EU has a long engineering tradition, including artisanal ones, in terms of combustion engines; despite the continuous increases in energy prices; although the main battery manufacturers are Chinese and there is a risk of benefiting the competition, Brussels seems to want to bet everything on electric cars. A choice that seems senseless to most. For example, Laurent Rossi, CEO of Alpine, did not use words: "It is perplexing that an important producing country, such as Europe, decides rules that put it at a competitive disadvantage towards industries that have embraced certain solutions before. . It's like shooting yourself in the foot ”.

TOO EARLY FOR BIOFUELS

“Electric motors – explained the number 1 of the historic Dieppe company – are good for medium and small cars, but when you need continuous performance, for example in sports GTs with which you can also occasionally go to the track, the hydrogen becomes an interesting technology. We plan to put a derivative prototype of the Alpenglow on the road within one or two years ”. “Biofuels”, explained Rossi , “are also interesting, but at the moment I see them as more of a niche use, also due to the very high production costs. Hydrogen, on the other hand, being compatible with electricity, in applications on fuel cells, makes it possible to justify an investment that fits seamlessly into the value chain of the ecological transition ”.

WHAT BMW SAYS

Even the CEO of the BMW group, Oliver Zipse , is convinced of the success of a technology that, at the moment, seems to be a minority. Its time would simply not come yet: "When it is more scalable, hydrogen will be the coolest thing to drive." But above all, the Bavarian group, which for years has been investing in the experimentation of hydrogen engines, is targeting the blindness with which the EU legislator is moving, oriented only towards electricity. “To say that in Great Britain and Europe by 2035 there must be only one propulsion system for cars is a dangerous thing… for customers, for the industry, for its employees and also for the climate. From any point of view, this (the one that provides a single technological solution) is a dangerous model to choose ”.

THE VW UNDERGROUND

Staying in Germany, all eyes are on VolksWagen and, of course, on the moves that the new CEO will take. Those who preceded him, Herbert Diess, had made several mistakes that had gradually reduced his scope for action, especially in his dialogue with the unions since the way illustrated to heavily electrify the brand involved heavy sacrifices in terms of employment. His replacement, Oliver Blume , has always left the door of his workshop open to other green solutions, such as alternative fuels. It seems little, but in reality this option would allow German industries to keep intact the supply chain that today assembles internal combustion engines and, above all, would not force the country's brands to turn to Chinese companies that manufacture EV batteries for cars. Let's not forget that, as they say from the Alpine, those with a long tradition of sporty internal combustion engines will want to turn to hydrogen and Blume also drives Porsche …

FOR MERCEDES THERE IS ONLY ELECTRICITY

Of a completely different opinion Mercedes, which has put on the plate 7 billion euros in research and development for the optimization of the performance of the batteries and of the next architectures, in order to significantly increase the autonomy and reduce recharging times. It would be difficult to reverse gear now, and above all to explain it to shareholders, for this reason Markus Schafer , CTO of Mercedes-Benz, goes straight on: “For cars, there are no alternatives to electric”.

DO STELLANTIS, RENAULT AND TOYOTA BELIEVE IN HYDROGEN CARS?

If we exclude the CEO of Stellantis, who has already expressed his skepticism on all possible occasions, there is another big European that continues to be suspicious of electricity as the only solution to achieve the goal of zero emissions : Renault. Only a few days ago the CEO of the Group, Luca de Meo declared : "We need technological neutrality on emissions". The brand, which intends to become 100% electric, will not reserve the same treatment for the subsidiary Dacia, which currently has only one electric model, Spring, which represents 12% of its orders.

"Renault will try to be the champion of electric motors, but this has a risk," said CEO Denis Le Vot on the sidelines of a presentation in Le Bourget, near Paris. “This is also the reason why Dacia exists. Depending on the speed of conversion of the market to electric motors and customer appetite, Dacia is here. The two can coexist intimately, ”he said. After all, de Meo also stated that with EV engines it will be more difficult to produce cars for all budgets, hence the decision to allocate the economic brand of the division to endothermic. However, Dacia plans to offer a first hybrid model in 2023.

Outside our borders, we record the skepticism of the electric cars of Japanese houses (primarily Toyota ) and, in neighboring South Korea, the maxi investments in hydrogen cars by Hyundai, which on the volcanic island of Jeju, the largest of the country, with an area of 1,800 square kilometers, is carrying out its R&D program as an alternative to electricity. The Seoul-based carmaker will supply Jeju with 1,700 hydrogen vehicles: 1,200 passenger vehicles, 300 buses and 200 garbage trucks. The project, in which the energy company Korea Southern Power is also making great economic efforts, also provides for the construction of a plant to produce green hydrogen, i.e. obtained from renewable sources, which will be switched on in 2026 to make the island effectively independent. from the point of view of fuels.

FOR AN ISLAND THAT OPENS TO HYDROGEN CARS THERE IS AN ARCHIPELAGO THAT CLOSES

The impulse of the legislator risks being the greatest barrier to the spread of hydrogen. As with electricity, investments are needed to create an infrastructure. Infrastructure which, where it started to appear, is quickly being dismantled in favor of EV charging stations. This is the case of the United Kingdom: Shell, which in partnership with the operator Motive, in turn owned by ITM Power (a company specialized in electrolysis, the technology for producing green hydrogen starting from water and electricity) he had made three (at a cost of about 2 million euros each), he began to close some of them. Now only 11 hydrogen stations remain across the UK, compared to 57,000 charging points for electric cars while the two hydrogen cars continue to have negligible penetration: the two best known, the Hyundai Nexo and the Toyota Mirai, have sold in UK 275 and 209 specimens respectively.

This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/smartcity/le-auto-del-futuro-saranno-alla-spina-o-a-idrogeno/ on Sun, 23 Oct 2022 06:42:42 +0000.