By Dave Abrahams
Zurich, Switzerland - What you are looking at may very well be the future of the automobile, according to nanoFlowcell chief technical officer Nunzio La Vecchia.
At this stage, however, it sounds more like science fiction - an electric car powered by a fuel cell that delivers (if only briefly) 801.69kW at a working voltage of 735V and up to 2000 amps under acceleration, giving it a top speed of more than 300km/h and a range of 800km. With zero emissions.
OK, time for a reality check. The sexy red gull wing in the these teaser shots is the Quant F, a big four-seater luxury sports sedan that's due to make its world debut at the Geneva motor show on 3 March.
Built by specialist fuel cell research company nanoFlowcell in Zurich, it's been developed from the Quant E prototype of 2014, the first flowcell-powered vehicle to pass Germany's stringent TUV roadworthy inspection.
A flowcell, according to La Vecchia, is a high-output fuel-cell that uses the reaction between two ionic fluids - one with a positive charge and one with a negative charge - to produce huge quantities of electricity and an inert, harmless by-product.
A conventional fuel-cell, as used by Nasa since the 1960s, combines two gases - hydrogen and oxygen - to produce electricity and water vapour, but not at the level of efficiency claimed by La Vecchia.
“We are currently able to attain peak output of 801.69kW for a limited duration and a maximum rated voltage of 735V,” he said, “although for technical and economic reasons, the rated voltage for normal operation of the Quant F will be about 400 volts.”
ALL-WHEEL DRIVE
The F's uprated flowcell continuously feeds more than 50 amps into a newly developed buffer system that can deliver up to 2000 amps for a few seconds.
That gets fed to four electric motors, which drive all four wheels via an all-new two-speed transmission specially developed in-house for this car. Surprisingly, at high speeds and under hard acceleration the front axle is declutched “for optimum stability and acceleration. This is easier to achieve with rear-wheel drive than with permanent all-wheel drive”.
The new F is a big car, 5250mm long with comfortable seating for four, built on a carbon-fibre monocoque shell that has two separate 250-litre fuel-tanks (one for each type of fuel) moulded into it, giving it a range of up to 800km.
Le Vecchia didn't reveal what the fuels were but did say they were stored as liquids under normal atmospheric conditions, unlike the hydrogen and oxygen gases used in conventional fuel cells which have to be stored under extreme pressure to make them viable for automotive use.
The F is not a concept; it's a pre-production prototype for EU homologation purposes. The exterior, says La Vecchia, is already completely EU compliant, although there are some interior issues still to be settled, such as the airbags and rear display.
Then it will have to be crash tested both in Europe and the United States, although La Vecchia is patently unhappy at the thought of deliberately wrecking several examples of his beautiful creation.