The Viritech Apricale is the World’s First Hydrogen Powered Hypercar
Just as the electrical revolution is taking the automotive industry by storm, the next frontier for vehicle propulsion is hydrogen fuel cell technology. Vritech, a UK startup is pioneering hydrogen fuel cell cars with the gorgeous Apricale Hypercar which will break both the 1,000 hp and 1-hp-per-kg barriers.
The Apricale is not only the world’s first hydrogen powered car but also one of the lightest Hypercars weighing in at only 2,205 lb (1,000 kg). It’s an amazing feat of engineering that demonstrates the company’s prowess in hydrogen fuel cell technology. The lightweight “Graph-Pro” hydrogen storage tanks are built-into the structure of the carbon-fiber chassis as opposed to having heavy tanks bolted into the frame of the vehicle.
Image: Vritech
The hydrogen tanks built-into the frame stores 119 lbs (5.4kg) of hydrogen at 700 bar pressure. The hydrogen is funneled through a “multi-hundred kilowatt” fuel cell that generates electricity which powers two 536 hp (400-kW) electric motors tethered to the front and rear axles. Some of the electricity is used to charge a 6-kWh high-performance on-board battery equipped with the “Tri-Volt” energy management system.
Image: Vritech
The 6-kWh battery provides short-term power boost when you need it to climb hills or accelerate past obstacles. The combined fuel-cell and onboard battery helps the vehicle to achieve 1,000 hp but only for about 27 seconds before returning to the standard performance once the battery power is depleted.
Image: Vritech
The Apricale will undoubtedly be a zero-emissions supercar able to travel up to 350 miles (560 km) on a full tank of hydrogen before the tanks need to be refilled. This may prove to be problematic because of the extremely limited amount of hydrogen refueling stations. However, if you can afford this Hypercar, it will more than likely be used for recreational driving with hydrogen refueling tanks kept at home. That may change in the near future, just as electric recharging stations has increased due to popularity of electric vehicles, the same will happen with more acceptance of hydrogen vehicles.
Vritech plans to build only 25 of the Apricale hydrogen-powered Hypercars with delivery planned to start in 2024. The company’s goals in creating the Apricale is to demonstrate the company’s lightweight gas storage, hydrogen fuel cell and hybrid energy management systems to the broader automotive, heavy transport and aviation industries.
