The Hyperion XP-1 hypercar needs to give hydrogen a halo outcome

Angelo Kafantaris is a gentleman on mission. He’s the CEO of Hyperion, which on Wednesday morning debuted a new hypercar that desires to demonstrate you can go definitely quick with no wrecking the planet. But this car or truck is not packed full of lithium-ion cells. Rather, the XP-1 is powered by a gas mobile, and its occupation is to give hydrogen a halo result that more pedestrian gasoline mobile electric motor vehicles like the Toyota Mirai or Hyundai Nexo haven’t fairly managed.

“The essential criterion is to provide this cleanse strong power resource in a price tag efficient way so that the rest of the world could love it,” he told me when we spoke a several weeks go. “So we determined we needed to help this industry develop so that the relaxation of us delight in the very same added benefits, which of program would be truly lengthy range, truly rapid refuel time, a more time daily life cycle that will not degrade with every single demand (or refuel in this situation), a very significant gravimetric electrical power density, the nature of recyclability which is not value prohibitive as when compared to batteries, and then I believe last of all, toughness given that hydrogen motor vehicles are not susceptible to reduced functionality in significant heat or incredibly cold temperatures. All these points make hydrogen a great benefit proposition for the client when used motor vehicles.”

It undoubtedly appears to be the part, showing up a little bit like a Bugatti Chiron that had a transporter accident with an IndyCar. The headline figures for the XP-1 would make it a winner in a match of hypercar Top Trumps: Zero to 60mph in less than 2.2 seconds. A prime pace higher than 221mph (356km/h). And a range of 1,016 miles (1,635km) involving fuel stops. The monocoque tub and bodywork are designed from carbon composite with strands of titanium woven as a result of it for additional energy, nonetheless the XP-1 has a suppress excess weight of 2,275lbs (1,031kg). And it can be powered by a hydrogen gasoline cell that feeds electricity to a pair of electrical motors, with an ultracapacitor in there as an energy storage device.

Hyperion hopes all these remarkable specs can assistance onlookers reply one fundamental concern: why hydrogen? “For illustration, the range on our car or truck is past 1000 miles, a thing you can only realize in a hydrogen motor vehicle,” Kafantaris observed. “There is always a concern of how and why, and we believe the why requirements to be answered first—that’s why we chose to launch the automobile initially.”

And if that all appears very focus-grabbing, nicely, that seems to be the place. “What we assume is most crucial to the market appropriate now is offering a concept by means of a products, the Hyperion XP-1, which is a automobile that is an instructional software to show the globe the great gains of hydrogen,” Kafantaris claimed. “Hyperion has no intention to be only a manufacturer of supercars or anything at all in that way. The XP-1 is an educational resource, and there will be further more products that are a lot more inexpensive down the line. But primarily we want to develop the penultimate version of what a hydrogen automobile could be, and then explain to the world why, through the car or truck, it was so great.”

Listing impression by Hyperion