Look, as cool because it may very well be and as a lot as automakers need it to occur, a worldwide change to hydrogen passenger automobiles is simply not practical and even attainable. But because the know-how improves, hydrogen gas cells develop into extra interesting and attainable to be used in industrial purposes, like long-haul semi trucking and supply automobiles. Mercedes-Benz has beforehand proven a prototype hydrogen fuel-cell semi that did 621 miles on one tank, and now the model has revealed a prototype Unimog that makes use of hydrogen to energy an inline-6 combustion engine.
If you aren’t already conscious of its gloriousness, the Unimog is Mercedes’ large off-road rig that has been in manufacturing since 1951, forming the premise for every thing from fireplace vehicles and development automobiles to go-anywhere RVs and passenger vehicles.
This hydrogen prototype relies on the Unimog U430 “implement carrier” mannequin, basically the ‘Mog equivalent of a pickup truck. Its 7.7-liter inline-6 engine has been modified to accept hydrogen instead of diesel fuel, with the only resulting emissions being water vapor from the tailpipe. The engine has new safety and monitoring systems plus electronic system updates to work with the hydrogen setup. Mounted behind the cab are four 700-bar tanks in total that hold 31 pounds of gaseous hydrogen; they are combined into a pair of larger tanks that can be controlled independently. Mercedes says the engine makes 290 horsepower and 738 pound-feet of torque when using hydrogen, a bit less than the 299 hp and 885 lb-ft when running diesel.
Mercedes fitted the test vehicle with a cool two-arm mowing setup, and the engineering team used it on a decommissioned highway to gather data, refueling at a public station after the trip. Mercedes says the Unimog is much quieter when running on hydrogen power, and the goal for the project is to upgrade the Unimog to hold enough hydrogen so a real work truck could go the entire day without needing to refuel.
The hydrogen combustion engine is part of the publicly funded “WaVe” program, where 18 different partner companies and agencies are working together to determine whether these engines can supplant diesel-powered engines. Despite this development, Mercedes says it is focused on battery electric and hydrogen fuel cells for production and commercial uses. I’d like to see what a next-gen Unimog EV would appear like.
Source: jalopnik.com