During the Paris Motor Show (Mondial de l’Auto) 2022 this week, French hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle startup Hopium showed an updated version of its Machina Vision and announced the reopening of the sedan’s order book on October 17th. According to the company’s website, the high-end model is priced starting at €120,000, with interested buyers able to reserve a car for €656, the fee taken from the atomic wavelength of hydrogen. The first deliveries of the car are scheduled for the end of 2025.

While Hopium claims its car is the “world’s first-ever hydrogen-powered sedan,” other major OEMs Toyota and Honda would challenge that assertion. Those two have been the biggest recent supporters of hydrogen fuel-cell passenger cars, with the Toyota Mirai being the highest-profile current entry. Honda just stopped making its Clarity fuel-cell car but has not abandoned the segment, while Hyundai has also offered a fuel-cell crossover called Nexo.

Hopium was founded in 2019 by racer and company CEO Olivier Lombard, the youngest winner in 2011 of the 24 hours of Le Mans. Lombard had driven hydrogen-powered racing cars for 7 years, which inspired him and his team to reflect on hydrogen as a new-mobility solution to meet today’s environmental challenges.

Although the transportation sector alone is responsible for 20% of greenhouse gas emissions, Hopium is positioning itself as a player in the fight against climate change. In July, the company announced it had filed the first 10 patent requests for its sedan during the first half of 2022. They cover a range of innovations, in terms of optimization, efficiency, sustainability, and environmental impact of the high-powered fuel cell system, as well as interior and exterior design including interfaces and user experience.

“These patent filings represent a new milestone in the realization of our pioneering vision,”
said Lombard. “This step crystallizes the efforts of our talents and concretizes our technological lead.”

Machina details

Hopium believes that the Machina technological platform sets the standards for a new generation of hydrogen vehicles. Its optimized and lightweight system enables a record vehicle weight of fewer than two tons.

Conceived by Felix Godard, Hopium’s Chief Design Officer, the Machina Vision now has more of a notchback silhouette, with its ascending fuselage and kinetic grille opening and closing to optimally balance fuel-cell system cooling with vehicle aerodynamics. The front light signature draws design inspiration from the stratification of the fuel-cell stack and waves on the surface of the water.

Since Futurride last covered the Machina, Hopium has released a few more technical details on the car, including some performance targets.

The vehicle’s more than 500-hp (373-kW) powertrain will enable 0-60 mph (0-97 km/h) acceleration in less than 5 s and a top speed of 143 mph (230 km/h). Its range will be more than 1000 km (621 mi).

The powertrain integrates the primary fuel cell with a secondary “peak power” battery pack.

The fuel cell system, which integrates the stacks and balance of plant, is said to save water, heat, and energy thanks to optimized hydrogen consumption.

The hydrogen storage tanks are based on a proven technology that compresses hydrogen at 700 bar (10.2 ksi). They are light-weighted thanks to carbon fiber construction, which ensures a “record-breaking” filling time of 3 min.

The minimally sized peak power battery, which the company says is ten times smaller than that in a battery-electric vehicle, contributes to the vehicle’s performance.

The Paris show and June interior releases focused on the details of the cabin and its sky view.

Conceived by designer Godard, the car is meant to reimagine the future of the human-machine relationship. At the front, the pillar-to-pillar display provides a digital landscape of information accessible to both driver and passenger. It can transform into a full or minimized layout with a wave-like motion. The haptic console offers a new sensory method for interfacing with the car.

The design of the rear compartment focuses on comfort, space, and a sky view for passengers.

All the materials used for the interior are said by the company to be of the highest quality while ensuring both transparency and traceability, with sourcing in Europe to reduce their environmental impact.

 

Partner input

Hopium brings together a team of experts and leading partners at the forefront of innovation in the fields of hydrogen fuel cells, technology, and automotive engineering in a search for a perfect balance among “mankind, nature, and technology.” Among the leading partners are Bridgestone, Dassault Systèmes, Plastic Omnium, and Saint-Gobain Sekurit.

The goal of the Bridgestone partnership is to design custom tires with low rolling resistance technology, a major factor in meeting the vehicle’s 1000-km driving range. The tires will be created using Bridgestone’s proprietary virtual tire development technology, providing significant benefits in sustainability as well as efficiency.

Under its overarching Bridgestone E8 Commitment, the company has pledged to support the realization of a sustainable society by providing social and customer value throughout every area of its business and operations together with partners.

“This exciting partnership with Hopium once again demonstrates our support for the next generation of innovative mobility pioneers,” said Steven De Bock, VP of Consumer Replacement and OE, Bridgestone EMIA. “We’re placing our recognized expertise at the service of a real game-changer in the field of zero-emission mobility and helping bring about a more sustainable future of mobility in the process.”

About a year ago, Hopium also announced a partnership with Saint-Gobain Sekurit to co-develop the glazing of the Machina. The hydrogen car startup hopes to build on the experience of Saint-Gobain Sekurit to provide innovative solutions that combine design, safety, thermal, and acoustic comfort to create the best glass user experience.

“We are proud to be able to collaborate with a major player in the French industrial heritage…,” said Lombard.

Saint-Gobain Sekurit is “delighted to support Hopium, a French start-up committed to green mobility,” added Tim Jurkowski, VP of Sales, Marketing & Projects at Saint-Gobain Sekurit. The supplier will provide sidelites, the glass expanse from the windshield to the roof, and AmpliSky, an interactive glass with on-demand opacity.

 

Infrastructure challenges

One of the main challenges for any fuel-cell vehicle maker is the infrastructure for hydrogen. It is much less developed than that for ICE (internal combustion engine) vehicles and even BEVs (battery electric vehicles).

So proponents of hydrogen-fueled vehicles looking to promote widespread adoption of the technology have a big challenge ahead of them. Hopium emphasizes the benefits of the fuel, some rapidly growing but still small infrastructure numbers, and expected fleet volumes.

With a power content about three times higher than gasoline, the company says that hydrogen, when combined with a fuel cell, produces clean and efficient energy that emits nothing but water and steam. Easy to store, transport, and deliver, hydrogen also offers fast refueling for long ranges.

Some of the infrastructure numbers it points to are hydrogen station counts of 685 worldwide and 235 in Europe in 2021, according to the H2stations.org database operated by LBST GmbH. About 750 hydrogen stations have been announced in Europe for 2025, according to “Hydrogen Roadmap Europe – 2019 – A sustainable pathway for the European energy transition.“ According to Programmation Pluri-annuelle de l’Energie 2019-2028, some 400-1000 hydrogen stations and 20,000-50,000 fuel-cell vehicles are expected in France in 2030. Sales of fuel-cell vehicles have increased five-fold in Europe from 2014 to 2021, according to Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Observatory.

To put those hydrogen station numbers into perspective, Statista estimates that in 2021 there were nearly 376,000 EV charging stations in Europe and a little over 37,000 in France.