Aston Martin heralds hydrogen

Aston Martin will make motorsport history next month with the debut of its Hybrid Hydrogen Rapide S prototype at the Nurburgring 24-hour race on May 19-20.

The four-door, four-seat sports sedan will be the first hydrogen-powered car to compete in an international event as well as the first zero-emissions sports car to complete a race lap at the Nurburgring 24-hour.

The company behind the powertrain development, Austrian hydrogen power specialist Alset Global, has set itself some high standards, first installing its prototype Hybrid Hydrogen system in an Aston and wheeling it out at the notorious Nurburgring for one of the world’s toughest motor races.

But Aston Martin CEO Dr Ulrich Bez sees it as an ideal way to showcase the technology.

“Working with Alset Global to unveil this system in such a challenging environment as the 24 Hours of Nurburgring shows once again how confident we are in our cars, our people and our partners,” he said.

The Hybrid Hydrogen Rapide S doesn’t use hydrogen to power an electric motor as the more common fuel cell approach. Rather, it goes down the BMW path, using it as an alternative combustion fuel in a modified internal combustion engine.

Alset’s VP of product management and technology, Thomas Korn, worked extensively on the Hydrogen 7 in his days with BMW, and with other alternative-power technologies like EVs and fuel cell vehicles.

For the Rapide, he and his colleagues have come up with a twin-turbo 6.0-litre V12 engine capable of running on pure petrol, pure gaseous hydrogen or a blend of the two.

Engine modifications comprise a hydrogen fuel rail, storage tanks and a proprietary ECU allowing the engine to calculate and draw its fuel mix in real time from anywhere along the petrol-hydrogen scale, balancing out the conflicting demands of high power and low-to-zero CO2 emissions.

The car’s hydrogen storage system shows what a long way the industry can go in a relatively short time.

BMW’s Hydrogen 7 used a fuel tank weighing more than 200kg to carry 8kg of gas. Alset’s Rapide system uses four carbon-fibre tanks to store 3.23kg -- two in the boot and two next to the driver.

The refuelling system is sufficiently robust and efficient to gain the approval of the Deutscher Motor Sport Bund (DMSB), German motorsport’s governing body.

The result, say the two, is up to 250km of CO2-free driving range with little or no sacrifice in performance.

Or, as the press release puts it: “…a powerful and dynamic propulsion system that provides sports car performance but with a carbon footprint more akin to that of a supermini” – proof that there are other ways to cut emissions besides reducing engine size or electrifying.

Given it’s installed behind one of car world’s great sporting badges, an essential part of the project was to keep the drive experience intact regardless of the fuel mix.

At the Hybrid Hydrogen system’s heart is its ECU, the subject of many an Alset patent. For other elements, the company called on outside help, for example high-end engineering firm Magna Steyr for the storage tanks and pressure regulation system.

The aim of the system is to provide a practical transition to the hydrogen economy, Alset Global CEO Jose Ignacio Galindo said in a statement.

“We’re providing a unique, clean solution for the premium and performance segment and demonstrating that going green does not require sacrificing emotions.

“Our system offers the highest power density of all built and existing hydrogen cars and, because it is compatible with nearly all current internal combustion engines, it is the most affordable and simplest to implement.”

The car is based on the new Rapide S set for international launch this month. Aston says it has redesigned and re-engineered its four-door platform “to offer even greater style and significantly enhanced performance”.

It will use the company’s new AM11 6.0-litre V12 atmo engine, good for 310km/h and 0-100km/h acceleration in 4.9 seconds.

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