Gas? No, hydrogen.
Hyperion
Hyperion calls it an ‘educational tool.’ But the XP-1 looks like something out of a sci-fi flick with his hydrogen fuel cell power.
The Hyperion XP-1 is the brainchild of 10 years of research among hundreds of engineers and scientists, with the company in Southern California hoping to redefine what a supercar can be after it exhibited the car on Wednesday. To be clear, this is not a few production car ready for purchase in a few months. After all, it’s a prototype that shows where Hyperion is capable.
“Prototype” comes with some baggage, as in, we do not have the finer details on how everything works. We also do not know any basic specifications, but we can dig into what Hyperion is currently throwing. The XP-1 has a kind of wild hydrogen storage that makes carrying hydrogen a cinch. Typically, the tanks are hugely bulky in today’s fuel cars and this technology makes it a far greater masterpiece than any electric car, Hyperion thinks.
This is partly because there is no need for heavy batteries. The fuel cells store energy from the hydrogen, ignoring the need for batteries. The company points out that there is no fear of degradation of batteries, long charging time as well as of the recycling strings attached to the batteries at the end of their useful life. The company has a point but hydrogen fuel cells are not without their own obstacles. It sounds like Hyperion may have solutions, but it’s clearly not ready to talk specifically yet.
“This is just the beginning,” said Angelo Kafantaris, CEO of Hyperion. “The potential of this fuel is limitless and will revolutionize the energy sector.”
The design. It’s sure to be its own thing. While there is some sort of supercar mashup going on, mostly between a Bugatti and Lotus Evija, there is a certain rocket age surge over the XP-1. It’s completely unclear how the pointed front fascia will make its way past pedestrian safety standards, but at the moment it looks like a retro-futuristic machine on steroids.
As mentioned, we do not have the juicy performance specs, but the XP-1 will probably do 0-60 mph in 2.2 seconds and handle much better than an EV carrying heavy battery packs. We know it is all-wheel-drive and has multiple electric motors to make the hydrogen juice into zero-emission power and, on a full tank, the Hyperion said the supercar will go 1000 miles. Hell, that’s better than a gasoline car in terms of trips to the fuel pump. And the supercar has technologies that power the tank with hydrogen; a fill-in would take five minutes, the company promised.
With a background in the development of spaceflight tech for the commercial sector, Hyperion hopes that the XP-1 will take its hydrogen dreams along the way. And if all goes according to plan, the supercar will go into production in the US in just two years.
See again:
Fuel-cell cars are still the next big thing
7:29
