Auto show in Paris: the future is not for electric cars, but for hydrogen cars

It seemed that after the pandemic, we would never see automotive, gaming or electronic exhibitions again.

because it's much easier (and seemingly just as effective) to hold events online or arrange separate meetings for journalists.

However, as reality has shown, everything returnsin circles. One of the reasons is that everyone loves exhibitions, as it is a great opportunity to make new contacts, communicate with people from your industry, learn something new, and just unwind! I can say for myself that the exhibitions have an atmosphere conducive to communication, and there is nothing reprehensible in approaching people you don’t know with a question or even sometimes getting into someone’s dialogue with your thought.

189. Cars of the future from Detroit

Let's talk about the auto show in Detroit, what's wrong with the new video cards from Nvidia, let's be happy for the Nigerians.

Recently considered new items from the automotiveexhibitions in Detroit (link above), and now I propose to look at the auto show in Paris. Despite the fact that the exhibition has long lost its former popularity. At the beginning of the 2000s, about 1.5 million people visited it. And this year the number of visitors was not disclosed. In 2018, 1 million people came, this year it is clearly much less (something between 300 and 400 thousand people). Here, perhaps, it is necessary to clarify that the exhibition takes place every two years. Well, you can also add that this year the exhibition celebrated its 124th anniversary. Honorable date.

However, many manufacturers did not want toparticipate. Citroën dealt an insidious blow to the stomach by refusing to exhibit, and this despite the fact that the company's headquarters is 30 minutes away, taking into account traffic jams. But the cunning Chinese took advantage of the skimping of European manufacturers, putting up their Great Wall and BYD. Apparently, in order to somehow brighten up the lack of beautiful cars, the organizers brought Macron (President of France), who, like Biden in Detroit, spoke about the importance of a clean future from fossil fuels (in short, he made anti-Russian speeches).

I wanted to sit in a Formula 1 car, but they didn't let me.Now he's standing there looking sour. In general, the French state is the largest investor in the Renault group, so Luca de Meo (head of Renault) tells how the company fulfills the state's precepts for the transition to electric traction.

The official poster of the exhibition trumpets the imminentfuture, which is not so far from the truth, since many European countries have already passed laws according to which by 2035 gasoline cars will no longer be produced and sold.

In passing, I remind you that we have a EuropeanExhibition. It is still possible to show multi-liter Mustangs in the USA. In the same Paris, such a car is not something that you cannot park, but, quite likely, you will get stuck in some alley in the center (we once had a minibus stuck).

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Table of Contents

• Short line</ p>
  • VinFast VF8
  • PEUGEOT
• Hydrogen cars
• Conclusion

Short line

VinFast VF8

I want to start a conversation with our good friendsfrom Vietnam. Smartphones from VinFast are dead, but cars are actively developing. Before you is an electric SUV, which is given a 10-year warranty, or 200,000 kilometers!

402 horsepower, 5.3 seconds to hundreds, AWD with dual electric motor, 470 kilometers range.

Out of curiosity:VinFast offers a battery subscription program. The bottom line is that when buying a car, a discount is made on the price of the battery. The customer then pays monthly for a subscription ($170 a month) and when the time comes, they will change the battery for free. Well, if something happens to the battery, then service work will be free. That sounds good!

So the car costs 57 thousand dollars, and ifto buy without a battery, then 42,200 dollars. And then 170*12 = $2040 per year for a battery subscription. Thus, it turns out 7 years of maintenance, as if included in the price.

Inside, all electric cars are similar.Big screen and all. In VinFast, perhaps, you can only pay attention to the unusual gear shifting system - these are buttons (look under the monitor - parking, reverse, neutral and drive).

The battery subscription model is apparently somethingthe future that awaits us. Obviously, the development of electric vehicles will be like with any other electronics: instead of the original batteries, there will be Chinese clones. A subscription is a way to bind a client to yourself.

PEUGEOT

A few words about PEUGEOT, which says that it is ahead of schedule. And by 2030, all brand cars will be electric.

Of course, the PEUGEOT 9X8 hypercar, which is supposed to take part in Le Mans races, has attracted the most attention. It is, by the way, a hybrid. We won't talk much, just admire.

And here is the Peugeot 408.It is a £43,000 hybrid that will be sold in a limited edition. What's interesting about PEUGEOT is that the company is betting on hybrid cars so far. An option for those who are afraid to stay on the track without an outlet.

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Hydrogen cars

Hydrogen cars are perhaps the main theme of the exhibition and the reason for writing this material.

The headliner of the direction was Renault, which brought several cars at once.

Let's start with the van - Renault Master Van H2-TECH in its final version, which should hit the roads of Europe in the near future.

The van comes with a tank that can hold 6.4 kg of liquid hydrogen. In fact, there are 4 mini-tanks of 1.6 kg each. A 33 kWh battery and a 30 kW fuel cell are also installed. Refilling hydrogen tanks takes 5 minutes. The van will travel 400 km on one gas station (350 km on hydrogen and 50 km on a battery charge). Everyone was very happy about the absence of emissions into the atmosphere, but for some reason they did not tell anywhere how much refueling would cost and where to refuel. Probably for this reason the van was shown. They will refuel like carsharing - they will come to companies with a refueling hose.

Another hydrogen car is the Renault Scenic.It looks very French: when you have to look around thoughtfully to understand how it all works here. In 2024, an all-electric version with a 40 kW battery will hit the market. But hydrogen should be expected by 2030. And then Renault shared that it expects that by 2030 there will be such a technology that will allow you to drive 800 kilometers on a single hydrogen tank. Charging will take 5 minutes.

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As Renault said, hydrogen cars are the mainand the hottest idea within the company, to which the engineers give their all. And with the advent of hydrogen vehicles, all these “teslas” will be of no use to anyone (except for Elon Musk)!

However, the sanity of Renault and its engineers,frankly, it raises serious doubts. So, as part of the 50th anniversary of the Renault 50 line, the company presented just such an electric cuttlefish in the form of a concept. 374 horsepower for 980 kg of weight.

But Renault 4 should be on the roads as early as 2025. And the company is betting on it. Although, it would seem, this merde-mobile came straight from the films of Luc Besson.

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However, it turned out to surpass Renault 4 withwith Dacia Manifesto. Renault itself says, and I quote, "Dacia has been shaking up the automotive world with its in-class business model for 15 years." And, apparently, is not going to stop.

This is what it looks like inside. There is no media system.It is understood that the driver will bring his device - a smartphone. By the way, it didn’t seem to you that the torpedo and steering wheel are made of cork. It is mentioned that the car is completely waterproof. And given the cork, it probably won’t sink yet. Since this is still a concept, it has not been fully decided what it will be - a hybrid, hydrogen or electric car. So far, we have decided only that it will not sink, and the rest will wait. I will assume that the cork is a refinement based on the results of the first focus groups, whose participants proposed to drown this product.

You can complete the story about Renault with a concepthydrogen hypercar Alpine Alpenglow. Alpine is Renault's racing division. This is a typical French hypercar in the sense that it is single-seater (the driver sits in the center) and is as unadapted to real life as possible. It is extremely doubtful that on such wheels he could even move off the podium himself.

In addition to Renault, all sorts of start-ups showed hydrogen cars. Hopium Machina attracted the most attention (since they showed not pictures, but a full-fledged layout).

Hopium is a startup founded in 2019.So it's generally surprising that they already have a prototype. The sedan has 500 horsepower, a 6 kg tank of hydrogen and a top speed of 230 km/h. Up to a hundred acceleration in 5 seconds. And the power reserve is enough for 800 km. About the power reserve sounds generally curious. On the main tank, the car will travel 500 km, but it will also be possible to install additional removable tanks that will allow you to drive another 300 km.

The startup does not yet have a factory, but by 2025 they want toproduce 20 thousand cars a year. And this despite the fact that the price will be from 120 thousand euros. However, the startup has a telling name Hopium (from the word “hope”).

So, the startup hopes that by 2026 it will be able toplace your CapXstores gas stations every 45 kilometers. It must be clarified here that CapXstores is not a gas station, but a place where you can buy only replaceable capsule blocks (on which you can drive a maximum of 300 km).

Another hydrogen car is the Namx HUV.800 km on one tank of hydrogen and almost 550 horsepower. The price is from 65 to 95 thousand euros. Like Hopium Machina, there will be a built-in tank, as well as space for replacement capsules. The first cars are expected to go on sale in 2025.

Namx President said:“Our dual purpose is to become the new benchmark in the world of zero-emission vehicles and to continuously expand into new territories to facilitate the mobility of our consumers.” The second part is, apparently, a hint at a more diverse line of SUVs?

Conclusion

I wanted to tell you about the auto show in Paris bydue to the large number of hydrogen vehicles. Both large manufacturers and start-ups are fond of this direction. Renault has openly said that it is betting on hydrogen. And electric vehicles are an intermediate stage that is relevant for the current period. For comparison, in Detroit, USA, where there are no such problems with energy carriers as in Europe, all the talk was only about electric cars. And in Europe already about hydrogen!

To some extent, this is logical.Given the current summer drought in Europe, when in France there were entire areas where electricity was supplied by the hour, and hydroelectric power plants stopped because of the dried-up rivers, hydrogen could be the answer to the problem of a shortage of fossil fuels and electricity.

Hydrogen, in principle, is not so prohibitiveexpensive, but so far much more expensive than gasoline. One kilo costs $17. Thus, a full tank is $ 102, which is enough for 800 kilometers. If we take the average consumption on the highway of 7 liters per 100 kilometers at a price of 53 rubles per liter, we get 3,000 rubles, or $50. However, for the city, when you have to stand in traffic jams, hydrogen will be much more profitable, since the car will run on batteries during a stop. Plus, probably, with the development of technology, the price per kilogram of fuel will decrease.

It is quite possible that society will agree to make a deal: ecology in exchange for double the price for a full tank. What do you think?

And in general, water vehicles look likemore adapted to real conditions. In Russia, hydrogen cars will especially come to the far North. After all, the boiling point of hydrogen is -252.9 ° C, so there will be no situation when you go out to the car in the morning and the fuel is frozen. The only disadvantage of hydrogen is its explosiveness. On the other hand, maybe this will be a plus: everyone will start to drive very carefully. Another disadvantage of hydrogen is its aggressive effect on engine metal. However, Toyota Mirai is already on sale, which is guaranteed for 100 thousand kilometers. And it is a well-known fact that the manufacturer usually lays in the guarantee half of the possible mileage. So in theory, the engine can withstand 200 thousand kilometers.