Hopium reduces the weight of its fuel cell even further
The former French car manufacturer, which is now presenting itself as a cleantech company, has announced progress on its 100 kW fuel cell. It is even lighter, while maintaining the same performance.
Hopium had already spoken out in recent weeks to highlight the fact that the weight of its fuel cell was already 20% less than the market standard. The company has succeeded in reducing the weight by another 15% to under 25 kg. And all this while maintaining the same performance levels as those validated during bench testing last July.
To achieve this result, Hopium has optimised its fuel cell on several levels. Improvements concern the design of the end plates and the clamping system. These advances were made possible by work on the digital twins developed by the R&D teams. The simulations enabled the solutions to be validated virtually, and then physically applied to the 100 kW stack, before being validated again on the test bench.
“These new improvements demonstrate once again Hopium’s ability to push back the technological frontiers,” says CEO Stéphane Rabatel. The company is still insisting that real-life tests are scheduled for autumn 2024 and that the first fuel cells are due to be marketed in early 2025.
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Article written by Laurent Meillaud and translated by Logan King
