Posted on 11/19/2014 2:35:31 PM PST by ckilmer
Audi announced it has mastered hydrogen fuel cell technology at the LA Auto Show Wednesday, where the company unveiled its new sustainable model — the A7 Sportback h-tron quattro.
The German auto giant’s new entry into the plug-in hybrid market features a hydrogen fuel cell and twin electric motor drivetrain in the front and rear of the vehicle, which can carry the car some 341 miles between three-minute refuelings. The electric battery alone can carry the car about 31 miles on a single two to four-hour charge, depending on the connection.
Altogether the h-tron’s all-green drivetrain cranks out 228 horsepower and separates the front and rear axels entirely for full electronically managed torque distribution. According to Audi, the A7 Sportback h-tron quattro can do 0-62 m.p.h. in 7.9 seconds and hit a top speed of 112 m.p.h.
“The A7 Sportback h‑tron quattro is a genuine Audi – at once sporty and efficient. Conceived as an e‑quattro, its two electric motors drive all four wheels,” Audi technical development leader Ulrich Hackenberg said. “The h‑tron concept car shows that we have also mastered fuel cell technology. We are in a position to launch the production process as soon as the market and infrastructure are ready.”
So there is a serious spec for spec challenge here.
But its beyond my powers to intelligently compare specs.
does anyone know cars well enough to go spec for spec with the internal combustion engine and musk's electric car the Tesla.
if true, this would be awesome
Cool!
Real tech, not the fake subsidized crap.
“Altogether the h-tron’s all-green drivetrain...”
“Green”....because I stumble upon pure hydrogen deposits all the time, and it takes no energy to get it.
The tricky part is getting the hydrogen.
Can you say “ Hindenberg”? In an accident that car will go off like a Roman Candle
Well if we had a brain, we’d have nuke plants coupled with desalinization and electrolysis.
Nice CYA there for a car based on an expensive fuel that is difficult/expensive to transport and ship.
Thorium reactors.
But that would be too smart.
And the enviros would go ape stuffing crazy over it.
That damn Audi musta forgot about that part.
Why is it awesome?
Do you have a hydrogen tree in your back yard?
After getting, you got compressing, transporting, storing....
Im just glad they didn’t master it back in 1945.
CC
You bet. That H2 autoignition thingy poses quite a risk. I think I'll pass.
And if you understood the cost of those, you would understand why we don’t.
Intuitively, hydrogen cannot be as efficient as electricity. This is because it takes electricity to make hydrogen by electrolysis (there are other methods but electrolysis is the main way to do it), and that process is only 50% efficient.
So the hydrogen can be thought of as an energy storage device, not unlike a battery.
So, it uses twice as much electricity....but, the advantage is that you can ‘fill up’ the car with hydrogen much more quickly than recharging a traditional battery. But always remember, that ‘clean’ tailpipe in a hydrogen car masks a dirty smokestack earlier in the process.
Also, it is incredibly difficult to ship hydrogen around, so there never will be a large scale network of hydrogen filling stations. So, the concept is you ‘fill up’ at home, with your own water and electricity.
Doesn’t seem particularly quick based on those specs. Seems odd to me to be quite honest. The only excuse for an electric car to be slow is range, and if you have a fuel cell and a fuel, that shouldn’t be such an issue. Could be the fuel cell technology needs a bit more work and is too heavy now.
0-100 KPH in 7.9 just isn’t fast at all.
No, the ‘hydrogen fuel cell’ everybody rants about is a catalyst meant to prevent a large explosion.
There are still plenty of reasons hydrogen is a bad fuel, but this isn’t one of them.
I’ll wait and see. I can remember dozens of “we’ve mastered fusion” and “we’ve mastered superconductivity”.
Hydrogen occupies about 6 times as much volume per BTU then gasoline. Where is the trailer that will be required to hold the Hydrogen?
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