Audi A7 Sedan Powered By Fuel Cells In Development

Published: Friday, May 31, 2013, 14:05 [IST]

Audi may have put a plug on the production of R8 e-tron electric cars, but on the other hand the automaker is going ahead with development of cars powered by alternate fuel sources. Autocar has now learned from Audi technical head Wolfgang Dürheimer that a fuel cell powered A7 sedan is in development. The fuel cell powered A7 sedan, which in this case will use Hydrogen as fuel, will go into trials in August.

Hydrogen fuel cell powered cars are not new of course. Audi itself brought out a concept car, the Q5 HFC, back in 2009. Other car makers including Audi parent company VW and Honda have also fiddled with fuel cell technology in the past.

Fuel cell technology has several advantages over battery power, which most mainstream electric cars make use of these days. One notable advantage is that fuel cell powered cars can be refuelled like conventional vehicles, with hydrogen fuel taking the place of petrol/diesel. This means, unlike battery powered electric cars, fuel cell powered EVs have zero charging time.

Fuel cells are also more eco-friendly than battery powered EVs, with the only byproduct being water and heat and does not even indirectly dependent on fossil fuel.

The reason why battery powered EVs are at present ahead of fuel cell EVs is due to the fact that free hydrogen is expensive to mass produce and hydrogen refueling stations are even more sparse that electric recharging stations.

Article Published On: Friday, May 31, 2013, 14:05 [IST]

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