Automakers are betting on hydrogen-powered cars— here are twelve in the works
The Genesis GV80 hydrogen concept. Business Insider/Hollis Johnson
Automakers are lining up to invest in hydrogen-powered vehicles, even however the big bucks are still being spent on battery-powered cars.
From an infrastructure standpoint, purely electrical vehicles make more sense. There areВ 15,959 electrical charging stations in the United States, but only thirty five hydrogen stations in the entire US, according to the US Department of Energy. Of those thirty five hydrogen stations, only three can be found outside of California.
But car makers still see potential in hydrogen technology. Batteries are expensive, take a long time to charge, and have limitations when it comes to driving range. Hydrogen-powered vehicles, on the other forearm, have longer ranges and suggest brief re-fill times.
Scroll down for a look at all the hydrogen-powered vehicles in the works:
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1. We would be remiss to not embark with the Honda Clarity, which Honda began leasing in California at the end of 2016.
The EPA recently gave the car an estimated range of three hundred sixty six miles — the longest range of any zero-emissions vehicle. Honda says the Clarity has a refuel time of just three to five minutes.
Honda and General Motors have invested $85 million to mass produce hydrogen fuel cells for vehicles beginning in 2020. Honda is presently working with Northeast regulators to introduce the car in states like Fresh York and Connecticut.
Two. General Motors exposed its monster of a hydrogen-powered car at the at the fall meeting of the Association of the United States Army in October.
The car comes with 37-inch tires and stands at more than 6.5-feet tall and 7-feet broad. The US Army will test the car in extreme conditions this year to determine whether it’s viable for missions.
GM says it has achieved Three.1 million miles of hydrogen fuel cell testing.
Trio. Toyota has been working on hydrogen-powered cars the longest, having put twenty three years into the technology. Here we see its hydrogen car, the Toyota Mirai.
The automaker has been selling the Toyota Mirai in Japan since December 2014, but began sales in California in October two thousand fifteen — marking the very first time hydrogen-powered vehicles were sold in the United States.
Toyota plans to sell 30,000 a year worldwide by 2020.
The Toyota Mirai has an EPA estimated range of three hundred twelve miles and refuels in just five minutes.
The Mirai comes with a front radar sensor and camera that permits it to detect lane drift and alert the driver. It also comes with automatic emergency braking.
The car comes with two touchscreens. The top one can be used for music selection and navigation, while the one on the bottom controls the temperature and audio output.
Toyota is also testing its fuel-cell technology in an 18-wheeler truck located in the Port of Los Angeles. What will come of the project is still unknown, but Toyota said it’s interested in using hydrogen tech in everything from forklifts to SUVs.
Toyota is also releasing a fleet of one hundred hydrogen-powered buses in Japan for the two thousand twenty Tokyo Olympics. Like Honda, Toyota is also working with regulators in the Northeast to set up a hydrogen infrastructure.
Four. Lexus wants to unveil its hydrogen-powered car in 2020, but we have yet to hear details on its range or other specs.
It’s worth noting that Lexus’ parent company is Toyota.
The car comes with high-tech perks like a display that can be managed with ordinary forearm gestures.
Five. Audi unveiled a concept car, the h-tron quattro, at the two thousand sixteen Detroit Auto Display that the automaker says can drive three hundred seventy two miles on hydrogen alone.
Audi says the mustard yellow, fuel cell car can go from zero to sixty two miles per hour in under 7.1 seconds.
The h-tron quattro comes with a "virtual cockpit" that substitutes the instrument panel and center console with digital screens. It also comes with a driver assist system that projects your surroundings in real-time so you can switch lanes and merge lighter.
It’s still unclear if Audi will go through with making a production version of the hydrogen car, but the automaker has said it’s exploring the technology.
6. BMW is working on a hydrogen car kicking off in 2020.
BMW will collaborate with ToyotaВ to build theВ hydrogen drivetrains in its two thousand twenty car.В
BMW says its hydrogen car will have a range exceeding three hundred miles and a refuel time of under five minutes.
7. Ford has back-tracked on its hydrogen plans, but it says it’s still exploring the technology.
In January 2013, Ford announced it was teaming up with Mercedes-Benz’s parent company Daimler and Nissan to accelerate the creation of fuel cell technology and potentially release a mass-market vehicle in 2017.
Ford CTO Raj Nair, however, told Business Insider that the company will not release a hydrogen-powered car this year. Nair said the alliance still exists, but Ford’s concentrate is on battery-powered vehicles as they have made more progress.
"On the passenger side, I’m very likely more bullish on the battery electrified side than on fuel cells," he said. "But we are still investing and we are still doing research, and it’s still something that we are very interested in."
