Are we at the threshold of Polish innovation in the automotive sector?

If investors are interested in the idea, the car should enter mass production in about 5 years. Currently, the start-up is working with its own funds and the team working on the hydrogen car is not remunerated. For the time being, the company is creating its own R&D department in Silesia and is holding talks with players from the American market.

The creators of the Polish hydrogen SUV want it to be part of a wider ecosystem in the future. The car is to serve as a home mini-generator of electricity, which could power e.g. a summer house.

Is this time a Polish breakthrough on the automotive market waiting for us? Previous attempts have already been made. In May 2016, a team of scientists from the Military University of Technology in Warsaw and constructors from the AGH University of Science and Technology in Krakow and commercial partner Riot Technologies presented the Hydrocar Premier car. The four-wheel-drive vehicle was built from lightweight composite materials, and stored in a tank filled with metallic powder, it was supposed to allow up to three times more hydrogen to be refuelled. Unfortunately, due to a lack of further funding, the project never progressed beyond the prototype phase.

Commercially available vehicles still face several challenges. The most important are: high prices, low energy efficiency compared to EVs, lack of infrastructure and the fact that the industrial production of hydrogen is not very environmentally friendly. The technology will only become profitable when sales reach a critical mass, as was the case with electrics. Paradoxically, their success inhibits the further development of hydrogen vehicles.