- The AVL Racetech engine is a BMW solution that matches the performance of the hydrogen engine to gasoline engines of that size.
- Burning hydrogen is still more inefficient than opting for the fuel cell or simply the electric car.
Along the way, the electric car has gained ground by leaps and bounds. First of all because European institutions have been pushing for years to make the leap to this type of mobility and, therefore, large manufacturers have entered fully into huge investments that they now have to amortize.
Moreover, refueling hydrogen is not cheap. Its production, especially if we are talking about green hydrogen, is already expensive. But transport is also very delicate, so different alternatives are being studied to reduce distribution costs. Be that as it may, in Germany, where we were able to refuel a Stellantis van with hydrogen, the cost was the same as filling a diesel tank.
As for its use, it has so far reached the market in gaseous form. With a fuel cell system, hydrogen-powered vehicles use electrolysis to generate electricity that passes through a battery and is used by an electric motor. Only the resulting water vapor comes out of the exhaust pipe and the vehicle behaves like an electric vehicle, with the advantage that recharging is much faster.
But in addition to this type of use, which has popularized the Toyota Mirai, some engine manufacturers (such as the Japanese company itself) are studying the possibility of burning hydrogen with combustion engines. The operation is more inefficient but maintains much of the essence of this type of propulsion, with a similar feel and a sound of gasoline engine.
This is exactly what the first European hydrogen engine aims to do. With an added trick: injecting water.
First European hydrogen engine has more than 400 hp
The developers of this hydrogen engine are the engineers of AVL Racetech, experts in the development of technologies for competition and suppliers of teams from Formula 1 to NASCAR.
As announced on their own website, they have managed to develop a 2.0-liter turbocharged combustion engine that develops 410 hp at 6,500 rpm and delivers a torque of 500 Nm between 3,000 and 4,000 rpm. A figure typical of turbocharged gasoline engines of similar power, which until now were above the hydrogen-burning engines.
To achieve these figures, they claim that it is essential to inject hot water into the intake system. With injectors, water is sprayed into the intake air manifold, which, they claim, allows a more homogeneous ignition of hydrogen and prevents premature self-ignition or detonations that can destroy the engine itself.
The system is not new. BMW, for example, has already worked with this system. In that case, the Germans sprayed water in the manifold to reduce the temperature of the air reaching the combustion chamber and control these premature self-ignitions, caused by excessive temperature.
They claimed that with this system they could increase power and reduce fuel consumption. As the cold air has a higher density, the oxygen content in the combustion chamber was increased, which allowed a higher average pressure during the combustion process, increasing power and torque. Even the volume of nitrogen oxide particles, which are particularly harmful to humans, was reduced.
The concept is basically the same for AVL Racetech’s hydrogen engine. The ultimate goal is to work with higher pressure in the combustion chamber by cooling the air coming from the turbocharger. Until now, hydrogen combustion engines operated with large amounts of hot air that impoverished the mixture and, therefore, did not get as much performance out of the propellant. With water injection, they may have solved that.
The next step is to take this hydrogen combustion engine off the test bench and examine it in competition. This stage is key, as it will demonstrate the reliability of the system and whether or not large-scale production is feasible. According to the company itself, it could be an interesting alternative to the fuel cell because it is feasible to convert gasoline combustion engines to hydrogen, as it should not entail large added costs.