Both involved in motor racing, AVL and Red Bull have announced the development of an ultra-efficient and more compact fuel cell. It could be used in sports cars, motorsport and aircraft.

Red Bull, is no doubt well known through its F1 and extreme sports activities. The Austrian company has an engineering department (Red Bull Advanced Technologies) which is involved in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, in preparation for the next hydrogen category scheduled for 2027. They have been selected to develop the chassis for future prototypes, in partnership with Oreca. As for AVL, which is also an Austrian company, it has a sports branch (AVL RaceTech) which recently made headlines with its hydrogen combustion engine.

Ground breaking fuel cell technology

These two leading names in the automotive industry are going to work together on a fuel cell. They are announcing a breakthrough technology, with a fuel cell that has been reduced in weight by two-thirds. This is the product of AVL’s expertise in fuel cells and Red Bull’s skills in integration and lightweight construction.The two partners have announced 6 kW / kg at the stack level and 2 kW / kg at the overall level. The technology has the potential to achieve “the world’s highest gravimetric power density”, according to the press release. This density has been tripled thanks to the contribution of engineers from F1.

For Jürgen Rechberger, AVL Vice President: “This partnership will combine the knowledge and experience of our experts, allowing us to improve the gravimetric power density of our fuel cell technology by a factor of three and hence meet the requirements of high-performance applications like aviation and racing.” It would not be surprising to find the fuel cell in question aboard a racing car. And why not at Le Mans as part of the future hydrogen category in 2027…

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Article written by Laurent Meillaud and translated by Mariem Ben Tili