Ineos Grenadier FCEV tester trials zero-emissions off-roading

Ineos is a chemical compounds firm in the beginning — the identify is an acronym for Inspec Ethylene Oxide and Specialties, that concoction of letters derived from a enterprise transaction made in 1998. A part of the outfit’s yearly toil is producing hydrogen, some 400,000 metric tons of the stuff in response to Ineos Automotive CEO Lynn Calder. So it is sensible to swap the turbocharged BMW 3.0-cylinder inline-six that usually powers the Grenadier Station Wagon for a BMW gas cell powertrain, when it is cheap to count on Ineos could be one of many firms powering the hydrogen freeway worldwide. That is what now we have right here, the Grenadier FCEV Demonstrator that debuted in the present day on the Goodwood Competition of Pace.

Ineos Automotive gave no specifics about mechanical bits apart from calling them “BMW Group’s newest hydrogen gas cell powertrain.” We determine Ineos refers back to the setup within the BMW iX5 we drove earlier this yr. The small print on that begin with two hydrogen tanks that maintain a complete of about 13 gallons of hydrogen at 700 bar. The bulge within the demonstrator’s hood is the gas cell stack sourced from Toyota, however that bulge could be smoothed out in a possible manufacturing automobile. The stack sends its electrical energy to a 2-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery that powers two electrical drive items on the rear axle, the drive items enabling true torque vectoring. Within the iX5, BMW pegs the system’s complete output at 401 horsepower; the gas-powered Grenadier makes about 283 horsepower. The roughly 5,500-pound iX5’s driving vary checks in at as much as 313 miles when examined on the WLTP cycle utilized in Europe. Hitting 60 mph from a cease takes round 6 seconds.

The automaker says rigorous testing has confirmed the demonstrator does not quit any functionality in comparison with the ICE-powered Grenadier, together with towing, which was the purpose. 

BMW put the iX5 into manufacturing earlier this yr, solely pledging to make lower than 100 items, although. It is doable Ineos might finally do the identical with the Grenadier demonstrator. The corporate’s busy now attending to full pace on rollouts of the Grenadier Station Wagon and Grenadier Quartermaster pickup, and we have heard there is a two-door model within the works. A battery-electric Grenadier is due in 2026.

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