A month later, on May 19, Renault presents a prototype of a car with a hydrogen engine. On the occasion of the announcement, the French company distributed a new promotional photo with a fragment of the concept car – this is a window frame with an illuminated emblem on it. Recall that in February Renault showed elements of the front body of the experimental car.
Typically, hydrogen is used in fuel cell power plants, where it is converted to electricity by an electrochemical reaction to power traction motors. In the new development, Renault offers a fundamentally different approach: an internal combustion engine that uses hydrogen as fuel. The advantages over fuel cells are lower cost and simpler design, the advantage over petrol and diesel engines is environmental friendliness as by-products are pure water vapor and a small amount of combustion particles of oil used to lubricate rubbing parts.
Note that in recent years Toyota has also experimented with hydrogen-consuming combustion engines – in 2021 it built working prototypes based on Corolla and Yaris, which are being tested on racetracks in Japan. The GR Yaris 1.6 liter engine in these cars is adapted to the consumption of H2
Also at the beginning of the 2000s, hydrogen combustion engines were designed by the German BMW – in 2002-2007. the company produced prototypes with such units based on the 7th series executive sedans of the E38 and E65 generations.
- “Driving” can be read in viber