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Audi acquires fuel cell patents in move towards clean energy vehicle development
The Audi A7 Sportback h-tron is the brand's hydrogen-powered fuel cell concept, revealed in Los Angeles last fall. – AFP/Relaxnews pic, February 16, 2015.Audi has acquired several fuel cell battery technology patents from the Canadian company Ballard Power Systems, a move that is expected to bolster clean energy vehicle development.
The patents acquisition is expected to give new momentum to the development of fuel cell vehicles at Audi and across the Volkswagen group.
At the LA Motor Show last fall, Audi presented the A7 Sportback h-tron quattro, an emissions-free concept powered by two electric motors running on a lithium-ion battery and a fuel cell. The "h" in the name stands for hydrogen, and the prototype is the latest of Audi's alternative fuel concepts, joining the e-tron (electric) and the g-tron (compressed natural gas).
The Audi A7 Sportback h-tron quattro can travel 100km on just 1kg of hydrogen, enabling a range of 500km on a three-minute top-up. At the same event, Volkswagen presented another hydrogen-powered concept, the Golf SportWagen HyMotion.
As one of the more viable eco-friendly alternatives to combustion engines, fuel cell batteries are being researched and developed by several car manufacturers. In January of this year, Toyota announced it was releasing over 5,000 fuel cell patents, making them available to use for free to the entire industry. The initiative is meant to contribute towards a concerted effort to develop hydrogen vehicles on the part of car makers, research institutions and law makers.
In Japan in late 2014, Toyota launched the Mirai, a fuel cell sedan, which is expected to launch in the US and Europe later this year. There is one drawback: operating hydrogen vehicles requires a dedicated infrastructure that is not yet in place in many countries, and the installation of hydrogen fuelling station networks could take up to several years. – AFP/Relaxnews, February 16, 2015.
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