Rolls-Royce is considering a hydrogen powertrain for future vehicles, but in the form of a fuel cell instead of an internal combustion engine, the luxury brand’s CEO said in a recent interview. with car.
The Rolls-Royce Ghosts, the brand’s first production EV, is expected to begin shipping later this year. after a short time consider plug-in hybridThe brand is expected to run entirely on electricity by 2030. But CEO Torsten Müller-Ötvös also sees the possibility of luxury cars powered by hydrogen fuel cells.
“We can get rid of the battery and we can use fuel cells,” he said in the interview, noting that this will only happen when fuel cell technology is advanced enough. However, Müller-Ötvös does not see a future for hydrogen combustion engines, which burn hydrogen in place of gasoline or diesel.
Testing Rolls-Royce Spectre
“I think the hydrogen combustion engine is not something that I want to study, because it was tested many years ago,” he said, referring to the Hydrogen 7 of Rolls-Royce, the parent company of Rolls-Royce. , version 2005-2007, a modified 7-Series luxury sedan. with a hydrogen-powered V-12 engine. Fuel cells are a more efficient use of hydrogen, he said.
That view seems to be in line with that of parent company Rolls-Royce. BMW hasn’t gone back to hydrogen combustion since the Hydrogen 7, but continues to develop fuel cells, even saying it is give way to hydrogen in the Neue Klasse architecture that will underpin the next generation of electric vehicles.
Prototype BMW iX5 Hydrogen
However, there has been renewed interest in hydrogen combustion from other automakers. Toyota has been developing a hydrogen combustion engine, with a emphasis on racing. And recently a group of Japanese car manufacturers committed to idea discovery.
Hydrogen combustion is seen as a way for existing internal combustion engines to survive in the future with stricter emissions standards. However, it comes with some downsides, including the challenge of storing enough hydrogen on board for a reasonable range. Hydrogen-powered vehicles will also face the same infrastructure problems that have limited the use of fuel-cell vehicles — but with the addition of exhaust emissions. .
