Hyundai’s Concept Hybrid Sportscar Uses Hydrogen Instead of Gasoline
Andrew Heinzman
Review Geek
Hyundai is on a mission to replace gasoline with next-gen hydrogen fuel cells, and although the automaker is currently focused on industrial applications for hydrogen, it also wants to see hydrogen in the consumer market. That’s why Hyundai is showing off the Vision FK, a concept hybrid sports car that runs on a hydrogen fuel cell and rechargeable battery.
The Vision FK is a 670 horsepower hydrogen plug-in hybrid, meaning that it’s significantly faster than cars like the Tesla Model 3 (480 horsepower). It’s also a lot simpler to operate (in theory), because the hydrogen fuel cell can recharge the battery or power the car’s four independent motors on its own. You can also plug in the Vision FK for some extra range, of course.
You’ll defiantly want that extra range, because the Vision FK can only travel 372 miles on a charge. That’s a lot lower than the Prius’ 640 range. Vision FK also takes five minutes to refuel its hydrogen cell, assuming that you can find a recharge station (Hyundai and its partner Rimac are currently developing hydrogen cell infrastructure for this reason).
Hydrogen fuel cell technology has many skeptics, as hydrogen gas is highly explosive and difficult to produce without releasing significant amounts of CO2. As such, it will take a long time to reach widespread adoption, and technological advances may be required to build infrastructure for refueling hydrogen cells. In other words—don’t expect to buy a Vision FK sports car anytime soon.
Continue Reading