New hydrogen-electric car can accelerate to 354 km/h

The California company Hyperion has unveiled the new Hyperion XP-1 racing car. It runs on hydrogen fuel cells, accelerates to 354 km/h and can travel up to 1,635 km on a single gas station.

The new hydrogen-electric car was supposed to be unveiled in early 2020 at the New York Auto Show, but the event was postponed due to the coronavirus. The company notes that by 2022 they will have built just 300 cars with an overhanging titanium-reinforced hull that is wrapped around the fuel cell power module. If this model is in demand, the company will release several dozen more cars.

Instead of a lithium-ion battery, Hyperion used “space technology” – a fuel cell for energy storage connected to electric motors that drive all four wheels. Side-mounted “air blades” not only provide an active aerodynamic design to aid in high-speed cornering but also include solar panels. They change their position depending on the position of the Sun.

“This is just the beginning of what can be achieved with hydrogen as an energy store. The potential of this fuel is limitless and will revolutionize the energy sector, ”said CEO Angelo Kafantaris.

The only drawback of hydrogen fuel is that nowadays it is quite difficult to find a gas station for such a car. In 2018, there were only 39 publicly available hydrogen refueling stations in the US. However, Hyperion wants to change that. The company announced plans to build its own network of hydrogen filling stations.