Alpine’s Bruno Famin says the French manufacturer believes hydrogen power for sportscars is “very promising”, as Alpine launched its updated hydrogen-powered Alpenglow concept car.
The Alpenglow was first unveiled in 2022 as Alpine’s look to the future of its brand. However, while the 2022 version was a static display model, the new car, named the HY4, is what Alpine is calling a ‘rolling racelab’, with a 4-cylinder hydrogen-powered internal combustion engine.
“So, why hydrogen? Because we consider it a very promising solution for sportscars, on both the road and racing side,” Famin, Alpine’s vice president of motorsports, said.
“We keep all what we love in the internal combustion engine, with but almost no emissions. Very, very low level of emissions. Today, Alpenglow has a gaseous hydrogen tank, but we already working on storing hydrogen in liquid form.
“At least for racing, the game in terms of packaging and therefore performance will be very significant.
“I also use this opportunity to say thank you and well done to the ACO for having officially announced the arrival of the hydrogen class for the 24 Hours of Le Mans by 2027, and to the FIA for supporting the new technical regulation, which are crucial for this new technology,” said the Frenchman.
The Alpenglow HY4’s 4-cylinder engine features water emissions to reduce harmful NOx particulate emissions. It generates 250kW (340hp), revs to 27,000 RPM and has a top speed of 270kph.
However, a new ‘big sister’ car is coming which will have a 6-cylinder engine — the HY6, an engine designed specifically to be powered by hydrogen. Alpine says this new engine is already on the dyno, and a second rolling version will be unveiled by the end of this year.
The HY4 is based on an LMP3 chassis, with a sequential gearbox supplied by Xtrac. While Alpine says the torque and power are “comparable” to that of a petrol engine, the range is not, although François Champod, Alpine Racing’s vehicle director, said, “we are not ashamed of the almost 100 kilometres we can achieve without refueling on track.”
The car has three 55-litre fuel tanks to store hydrogen in gaseous form – “quite a challenge” according to Champod. This is not only because of the safety aspect, but also the pressure change from 700 pounds, the storage pressure, to 40, the injection pressure. “I’ll let you imagine the temperature drop that goes with that,” said Champod.
Regarding Alpine’s racing prospects for racing a hydrogen car, Famin confirmed the HY4 is not a racecar, but instead a ‘rolling racelab’.
“It’s a rolling racelab to learn about the technology and open the doors, to roadcars with hydrogen, or Hypercar with hydrogen, or both,” he said.
“But it’s not what we will race in 2027. I imagine by 2027 is because this is what the ACO said about allowing hydrogen cars in the 24 Hours of Le Mans by 2027.”
Regarding the possibility of seeing Alpine race a hydrogen car at Le Mans before that — in Le Mans’ innovative class, for example — Famin didn’t think this was a possibility, saying “we cannot do everything in parallel.”
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