H2 Speed 2018

The concept becomes reality. The H2 Speed, which was awarded the 2016 Concept Car of the Year Award and named Best Concept at the 2016 Geneva Motor Show, is preparing to go into production in a limited edition by Pininfarina. Only 12 units will be produced for speed and performance loving gentleman drivers who also respect the environment and are attracted at the same time by the exclusivity typical of a Pininfarina designed vehicle. The production version, as anticipated by the concept, will be the first high performance hydrogen racing car born out of the revolutionary technology experimented significantly on the track by Pininfarina’s partner, GreenGT, a Franco-Swiss company that has been designing, developing and manufacturing clean and sustainable propulsion systems since 2008. The H2 Speed is opening a new era in automotive history. All the units, which will not be type-approved for road use, will be customised to the requests of each individual client, allowing them to experience the excitement of driving a real racing car on the track.

The bonnet presents a vertical fin whose function is to direct flows towards the rear; a large spoiler is anchored to this element with the function of creating lift and forcing all the power generated by the electric motor downwards. The fin has been modified, compared to 2016, because in the production version the link between the two parts must allow the spoiler to be adjusted for performance purposes. At the front, the two large laterally-located radiators, which cool the entire fuel cell block, remain unchanged. Everything in the central part, also remains unchanged. Another novelty is the livery presented at Geneva 2018. The blue and red colours of Pininfarina are reinterpreted in a modern key to underline that the car will be sold with the Pininfarina logo.

For this new styling and research exercise, it has used the hydrogen fuel cell technology developed by its partner GreenGT. The technology presented by GreenGT is the substantial outcome of a two-year development and testing programme that has embodied the form of the H2 Speed concept. GreenGT proposes ‘Full Hydrogen Power’ technology, a powerful electric-hydrogen fuel cell drive chain. The result is a zero emissions vehicle able to reach 300 km/h by releasing just water vapor into the atmosphere. With a maximum power of 653 horsepower, the engine accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h in 3.4 seconds. Also notable is the rapid refuelling, unknown to traditional electric cars: a full tank of hydrogen can be filled in only 3 minutes. H2 Speed eliminates air pollution and the compressor gives the vehicle’s engine a very special tone, completely different to that of conventional electric cars – sounds and hisses that evoke science fiction.

Form and function merge together in the H2 Speed concept to create an external design that highlights the vehicle’s sportiness and performance in every detail. Lines and volumes outline a sculpture that is as powerful as it is intriguing. Although it is based on the traditional styling cues of sports cars (low, aggressive proportions, strong design and an emotional synergy between car and driver), the H2 Speed presents the designer with a two-fold challenge: to design a car on a carbon frame base and on the mechanical layout of a high performance car of extreme proportions (length 4730, height 1113, width 1956, wheelbase 2968) and at the same time clothe the GreenGT Full Power Hydrogen system, an innovative technology that offers, in terms of vehicle architecture, the necessary originality to generate a unique, outstanding product.

The H2 Speed was born for high performance. Under the banner of essentiality and rationality, all parts of the layout have been designed for the correct distribution of weights to be able to transfer the power and enormous torque of the Full Power Hydrogen system to the ground.