Viritech has launched hydrogen powertrain technology based hypercar Apricale, the world’s first zero-emission hypercar at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
Apricale is the first car in the world to achieve zero-emissions hydrogen hypercar performance, with a weight of only 1,000kg.
Matt Faulks, Viritech’s CTO explains, “Hydrogen fuel cells have, until now, been used as range extenders for powertrains with batteries at their heart. We’ve essentially turned that approach on its head, developing a powertrain around a multi-hundred kW fuel cell system supported by a lightweight but highly efficient battery. This delivers hypercar performance for Apricale, but at less than half the weight of typical BEV hypercars.”
Faulks continues, “Not only does this weight reduction transform Apricale’s driving dynamics, but our reduced reliance on batteries means less demand on rare earth minerals.”
Matt Faulks, Viritech’s CTO said, “Apricale has enabled us to completely reassess the benefits that different energy vectors offer. Until now, engineering choices have been finite and compromised, but adding hydrogen into the mix offers a whole new array of capabilities that we have aimed to optimise with a new approach to FCEV. Apricale is going to be spectacularly exciting for its owners and we truly hope marks a new chapter in powertrain technology. It is great to see that vision realised at Goodwood today.”
Timothy Lyons, Viritech’s Founder said, “Viritech is focused on becoming the world’s leading developer of hydrogen powertrain solutions and the Apricale, with its requirement to optimise weight, space and performance, provided us the perfect development platform for our core powertrain technologies, which have also been designed for broad application in the coming age of sustainable transportation.”
This transforms the driving experience of the Apricale. it combines the agility of the best petrol-engined hypercars with the instant response of an electric motor. Indeed, the electric drivetrain means it is more responsive than a traditional hypercar.
The powertrain of the Apricale represents a historic landmark. It proves that a zero-emissions powertrain can offer the same power, the same weight and the same range as an internal combustion engine.
The multi-hundred kW fuel cells are combined with unique Ultra High-Power lithium-ion cells developed by technical partners, AMTE Power and Viritech patent-pending intelligent energy management system, Tri-Volt™.
The Tri-Volt™ Energy Management System and Viritech’s patent-pending power electronics enable a continuously variable mix of energy from both the fuel cells and the batteries.
