If you follow racing long enough, you’ll see all sorts of innovative technology appear in race cars, and if the rule book will allow it, we get to see how that technology performs pitted against the standard fare. Next year’s LeMans 24 Hours is going to see the Green GT H2, a hydrogen fuel cell powered car with twin electric motors producing 200Kw each and a combined 4000Nm or 2950 foot pounds of torque at the wheels.
This rather prodigious power will be needed because the fuel cell alone weighs 706 pounds, plus, the size of the fuel cell requires more frontal area than the usual LeMans prototype so drag will be an issue. The fuel cell requires oxygen to function which will come from compressed air supplied by twin electric turbos which gives the car a certain fighter jet sound.
Hydrogen will be carried on board in two external tanks. The 160 liter, carbon fiber and aluminum tanks are mounted on either side of the car and can be swapped in the same time as a normal fuel stop. The supply is currently good for about 30 minutes under race conditions.
I still remember the year, long ago, when Andy Granatelli showed up at Indy with his turbines and promptly showed everyone, including the skeptics, how well they could run. We’ve seen Tyrrell 6 wheel Formula One racers and a few years ago the Audi diesels. This year it was the delta wing. Next year we’ll see the Green GT. Even if you favor the tried and true internal combustion engine in a somewhat standard configuration, you have to admit, the ever changing technology and design does keep things interesting.
Link: Green GT H2
Now we’re talking. This is hybrid technology I can get behind. This same technology can be used to generate electricity at night using solar panels to separate the hydrogen from water during the day.
Hydrogen fuel cells have been proposed for so long as a way of powering cars, a lot of people have given up on the idea since it was always “just around the corner.” Whether this would ever be practical or cost effective beyond the world of hyper-costly prototype racers will still have to be debated, but if this racer works, it’s more data we can use in the conversation.
Hydrogen is almost a perfect fuel, especially when used in fuel cells; combine it with oxygen and you get electrical power and pure water. No unburned hydrocarbons, no NOx, no greenhouse gasses. I find it amazing, however, that hydrogen still suffers from the Hindenburg Effect. An event that happened almost out of living memory still has the power to bias consumers against a very good fuel. It’s ironic that the Hindenburg fire almost certainly was caused by the extremely flammable paint on the outside of Zeppelin, not the hydrogen inside. We are perfectly comfortable driving vehicles carrying 20 gallons of highly volatile and flammable gasoline a few feet from their backsides, yet most drivers would blanch and the thought of driving with a charge of hydrogen, carried in safe tanks, under their cars. Go figure.
I wonder about that 30-minute supply of hydrogen under race conditions. Even if refueling stops were well timed, they’re looking at some 50 stops over the length of the race. Given that nothing else goes wrong, the car still will run at a disadvantage. I realize this is more an exercise to demonstrate the possibilities of hydrogen fuel cells in vehicles, but I don’t want a poor showing at Le Mans to taint this bold concept.
I feel like a little kid looking at this thing. It’s awesome!
Can’t wait to hear more. But I must ask where on earth are these guys getting their funding. Flicking through their website read like the ultimate engineers dream job.