Audi not giving up on hydrogen fuel-cell
Instead of switching to pure-electric power, Audi says it will intensify hydrogen fuel-cell developmentAudi has announced it will focus more of its resources on clean hydrogen fuel-cell systems in an effort to ramp up the speed of development on the zero-emissions powertrain technology.
Confirmation that Audi hasn't abandoned hydrogen fuel-cells despite launching its e-tron electric SUV and declaring it will release 12 new battery-powered cars by 2025, chairman Bram Schot said this week that fuel-cell development was imperative.
"We really want to speed it up," Schot said, speaking to
. "We are going to put more priority into hydrogen fuel-cell – more money, more capacity of people and more confidence."
According to reports, Audi's renewed enthusiasm for fuel-cells stems from growing concerns over the sourcing of natural resources for battery production, plus existing doubts on whether pure-electric cars will satisfy the most demanding customers in terms of charging times and range.
It's thought Audi is now in the process of re-establishing its h-tron program, with the premium German brand set to champion the clean fuel within the Volkswagen Group.
Audi engineers are now working flat-out to incorporate the firm's latest hydrogen fuel-cell tech in a new sixth-generation concept that's set to be unwrapped later this year.
The next-gen fuel-cell concept, rumoured to be a 'real' working prototype, will then preview a limited-run production car in 2021 that the car-maker will lease to its customers.
Schot is confident Audi will then be ready to roll out full production fuel-cell models by the second half of the next decade.
To save costs, Audi says its next-gen fuel-cell tech will be co-developed with Hyundai, which already sells the fuel-cell powered Nexo SUV.
The last Audi h-tron fuel-cell concept, unveiled back in 2016, is thought to be as relevant now as it was then.
Taking just four minutes to fill from a hydrogen filling station, the last Audi h-tron concept offered comparable performance to a regular SUV and came with a range of 600km.
Audi's next-gen FCEV tech is said to focus on offering even more range by combining a hydrogen fuel-cell with a plug-in hybrid powertrain that includes a battery that can be charged.
The small 35-40kWh lithium-ion cell will provide the next-gen Audi h-tron with an additional 150km of range, Audi claims. Along with other fuel-cell improvements, it means the 2019 concept could cover more than 800km between refills and/or recharges.
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