The Fuel Cell Future

Since hydrogen is used and stored in different states, such as liquid and gases, it’s usually measured in kg. One kg of hydrogen contains three times the energy of petrol or diesel but produces no CO2 when used. In the Vivaro Electric HYDROGEN, the fuel cell itself produces 45 kW of power and works in concert with the 100 kW electric drive and the 10.5 kWh lithium-ion battery for smooth, immediate power and long range. 

Cold combustion is a term sometimes used to describe fuel cell operation, even though it isn’t really combustion at all. Nothing is burned in a fuel cell, and even if you were to burn hydrogen it wouldn’t produce any smoke or fumes. Cold combustion is when oxygen taken from the surrounding air is combined with hydrogen inside the fuel cell in a chemical reaction (at 80° C), producing electricity. 

One of the great advantages of hydrogen is that it keeps energy almost indefinitely. A pure battery-electric vehicle stores its energy as a charge, which degrades over time, but a Fuel Cell vehicle stores energy in molecules of hydrogen. This stable and long-lasting way of preserving energy is a big part of what makes hydrogen infrastructure and transport so useful. As long as the valves and seals of a Fuel Cell vehicle keep hydrogen in its tanks, it will have energy ready to go. 

Stellantis and Opel have been leaders in FCEV research and development for decades, from system modelling and development, storage, safety and refuelling up to building vehicles and operating fleets. The HydroGen1, Opel’s first FCEV based on the Opel Zafira, debuted in 2000 as a proof-of-concept. From 2008 onwards, Opel demonstrated with a fleet of Opel HydroGen4 vehicles the capabilities of hydrogen technology as part of the Clean Energy Partnership (CEP), a multi-stakeholder demonstration project supported by the German government. The knowledge gained from the HydroGen project serves as the basis for ongoing development, most recently with the full commercial viability of the Vivaro Electric HYDROGEN.