Hydrogen Cars Might Be Dead Already Despite This Fuel Cell Hypercar

It was a momentous announcement over the last few months – Toyota’s first all-electric car, the bZ4X, was launched in the UK, having arrived in the USA in April and Japan in May. After the Japanese company’s feet-dragging and negativity towards EVs, in favor of hydrogen, it felt like an “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” moment. It might be the first ding the death knell for fuel-cell vehicles, but there is another factor that could kill hydrogen stone dead except where you absolutely must use it.

Although the bZ4X’s launch has already been significantly marred by a recall, the car has potential. Its headline act is the battery warranty, which is for ten years or a million kilometers (620,000 miles). This will reassure the naysayers who go on about “having to change the battery after three years” (because they think an EV is the same as a smartphone). Otherwise, the bZ4X merely matches the crowd, with a front-wheel-drive version capable of 317 miles of WLTP range and 0-62mph in 7.5 seconds, and an all-wheel-drive version with 286 miles of range and a 62mph sprint of 6.9 seconds. Size-wise, it’s in the RAV4 class, so a very popular format for Toyota and could sell very well.

The bZ4X doesn’t mean Toyota has abandoned hydrogen, however, with a hydrogen-combustion Prius reportedly planned for 2025 and the Mirai continuing. But the fuel type has needed a halo car to generate more excitement, and there does appear to be one on the horizon. British company Viritech is launching its Apricale hypercar at the Goodwood Festival of Speed this weekend. It certainly looks very promising.

The Apricale will combine a fuel cell system with a small 6kWh battery that boasts a “high C level” (charge-discharge rate) so that it can deliver up to 805bhp to the electric motors, as well as replenish quickly under regenerative braking. The fuel cell stack can then add on up to 402bhp, for a total of 1,207bhp. This might not seem so much compared to a Rimac Nevera’s 1,914hp, but Viritech is claiming the Apricale will weigh just 1,000kg, so acceleration will be fierce and handling much daintier than any battery-electric hypercar, which tend towards being twice that weight.

The body is designed by Pininfarina, which is ironic considering the legendary Italian design firm has its own-brand electric hypercar, the Battista. The Apricale will also be manufactured by Pininfarina. However, the big difference between the Apricale and the Battista is that the Battista has physically existed for a few years now. I sat in it last February and it has been test driven in select locations including California. The Apricale on show at Goodwood does not appear to be fully functional, with the first XP1 prototype due later in 2022. That’s not to say that the Apricale won’t eventually enter production (that’s set for 2023), but it’s years behind commercial reality, whereas the Battista, Rimac Nevera and Lotus Evija are all here now, at least in fully drivable forms. The NIO EP9 hypercar arrived in 2016.

The Apricale does look amazing and offers a usable 300-mile range, in theory. But it will struggle to find any refueling stations like any hydrogen car in the UK, which will make it a technical novelty, at least to begin with. You will either need your own home supply of hydrogen or hope that any track you take it to does. In contrast, battery-electric hypercars use the same charging system as regular EVs, so can take advantage of existing infrastructure. Maybe there will be more H2 stations at some point, but the Apricale won’t be the reason why.

This feels like another example of why so many call hydrogen “hopium” – it’s always going to change the world in ten years’ time, even ten years after you last said that. Take British firm Riversimple. I remember seeing a prototype of this unusual Welsh hydrogen fuel cell car at a London show in 2016. The vehicle has been under development since 2007, and to date there only appears to be 20 examples on the road. Maybe there will be a few more in ten years’ time.

Arguments revolving around hydrogen tend to get somewhat religious. When I wrote with some interest about the forthcoming hydrogen-powered Extreme E derivative, Extreme H, in February, I felt the full wrath of the anti-hydrogen sector on social media, despite mostly in the past being on their side. The accusations were somewhat inflammatory, almost as much as the fuel itself. One major argument against hydrogen is that most of it is still made from fossil fuels (over 99%), so it’s not really environmentally friendly. The dream is for this to switch to “green” hydrogen produced by electrolyzing water, but that wastes a lot of energy for automotive use compared to charging a battery. So it’s either not green, or not efficient.

Green hydrogen aficionados argue that the intermittent nature of renewable energy will mean we need storage, even if it’s inefficient, to avoid wasting production when consumption is low. They say that hydrogen suits that role well. This is a reasonable theory, but we’re a long way from that point just yet (maybe at least ten years). In the interim, we will be reliant on non-green hydrogen, which many argue is the real reason why the oil and gas industry seems to like the idea so much.

This is an increasing issue, and not just for environmental reasons. Hydrogen is already at least as expensive as fossil fuels (unless subsidized), and green hydrogen is likely to be even more expensive. The big problem for hydrogen right now is that, within the 99+% made from fossil fuels, 71% comes from natural gas, and we all know what is happening to gas supplies and pricing at the moment due to the war in Ukraine. It’s already skyrocketing in cost, particularly in Europe, and come winter we’re more likely to want to use it for heating our houses than producing an experimental fuel.

In other words, there may be a fantastic halo hydrogen hypercar on the horizon, and in theory in ten years’ time hydrogen might be useful as storage for smoothing out intermittent renewables. But between now and then, hydrogen is going to be so expensive that it will only be viable for essential applications, and that won’t be cars.