Vauxhall confirms Vivaro-e Hydrogen for production

Vauxhall will add a hydrogen powered van to its UK range by early 2023, though customers in Europe are already taking delivery of the all-electric van. Power for the van comes from a 45kW fuel cell, which is routed through a 10.5Wh lithium-ion battery that provides peak power needs at start-up and under heavy acceleration.

Dr Lars Peter Thiesen, manager Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Deployment Strategy at Stellantis, describes the approach as a mid-power concept, between a full-power hydrogen-only system and a range-extender fuel cell battery electric vehicle (BEV).

The Vivaro-e Hydrogen will allow refuelling of its 4.4kg hydrogen tanks in just three minutes, providing a range of up to 350km, while the battery adds an additional 50km of driving range. Thiesen says the system has several advantages over the full-power or range-extender solutions, with smarter packaging of the hydrogen fuel system within the chassis and fuel cell in the engine bay, as well as no compromise on power compared to a full-power hydrogen system.

With the fuel cell constantly running at its optimum to charge the battery, the system is also more durable, and with a smaller fuel cell needed, the Vivaro-e Hydrogen will also have a cost advantage over a full-power system.

Of course, the technology is new and will come at a premium and while Vauxhall won’t commit to an outright purchase price for the vehicle, it does say it will be available to customers with a monthly lease cost of €600 in Germany, which includes a service contract and government funding grants. In reality the technology is approximately 2.5 to 3 times more expensive than an equivalent BEV.

Hydrogen pricing

The current price too of hydrogen is also not a fair reflection of where the market will end up as it reaches maturity, according to Thiesen: “Today, the price [of hydrogen] is an artificial price because there’s no developed market for it. Today we are a cost of around €8 per kg net of local tax, but with green hydrogen [produced using renewable