Villain said hydrogen “could be for a very limited number of cars”, given the existing limitations to the global hydrogen filling network. However, he also pointed to the Renault Group’s joint-venture for hydrogen-fuel-cell vans, Hyvia, as a means for infrastructural development that could support the launch of a road car.
He added: “Probably the network will be driven by trucks and LCVs, because there will be a lot of need for trucks everywhere in Europe to get a network of hydrogen. That could help us, because of course it doesn’t make sense to develop a network just for a sports car. The next phase will be driven by trucks and LCVs, and we will probably benefit from this.
“Afterwards, it’s a matter of storage, either gas or liquid, because the tanks take up a lot of space: more than 350 litres of gas instead of 50 litres of petrol, so we have to package all this in the car.”
Further complicating the infrastructural element is that Alpine feels the use of hydrogen is only justified when it is decarbonised – either ‘blue’ or ‘green’.
Blue hydrogen is made from natural gas, emitting CO2 which is then captured and stored instead of released into the atmosphere. Green hydrogen, meanwhile, is made by electrolysing water with renewable electricity, without any carbon emissions.