Although pure electric vehicles are very popular at the moment and are in the limelight, there are still some people who are firmly not optimistic about its prospects and believe that hydrogen energy is the future. There are also some car companies who hold the same view, such as Toyota and Hyundai. , Volkswagen has also applied for the registration of a hydrogen fuel cell and a patent registration for a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle.
It is reported that the hydrogen fuel cell of the new car not only has a lower cost, but also can achieve a cruising range of 1987 kilometers with only one gas tank. The car may be sold together with existing electric vehicles.
The patent, filed jointly by VW and KraftwerkTubes, is understood to detail a ceramic membrane that would be far cheaper than the polymer membranes favored by Toyota and Hyundai, and the cost is believed to be lower than that of hydrogen fuel cells. and the key to the mass production of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.
Notably, ceramic membranes do not require platinum, an expensive metal that has been one of the hurdles holding back fuel cell production.
Sascha Kuhn, founder of Kraftwerk Tubes, said: "The biggest advantage of our solution is that it is much cheaper to produce than polymer fuel cells and does not require any platinum at all. In addition, the heat generated by our fuel-powered cells can be harnessed in a way that conventional battery-powered vehicles do not. You can use it to power heating and air conditioning through a heat exchanger without extra electricity.
But what is interesting is that although KraftwerkTubes and Volkswagen jointly applied for this patent, KraftwerkTubes does not only cooperate with Volkswagen.
Regardless of the brand, our goal is to put our technology into series cars by 2026. We're talking 10,000 cars, spread across several brands. According to Kuhn, one of those companies is Infiniti, Nissan's premium brand.