Land Rover Defender on Roads with Hydrogen Powered Cells

Jul, 2021 - By SMI

Of road and extreme weather performance will be the most important test points for defender FCEV.

The land Rover Defender is one of the biggest border breakers in the world, which explores wild spaces. As a part of its Reimagine strategy, Land Rover is already starting to develop the Defender FCEV prototype to remove tailpipe emissions and achieve a net zero carbon output across its supply chain, products and transactions by 2039. Known as a Project Zeus, the Land rover team with partners in the fuel cell research initiative is responsible for producing fuel cell vehicles to meet the specific demands of the Land Rover.

The prototype Defender FCEV will explore how fuel cell technology supports key attributes such as off road performance, long journey, smooth operation and towing, across the full range of extreme cold and hot weather conditions. The Defender FCEV will have, as per renderings above, high –pressure hydrogen tanks on a transversal rear and longitudinal front, a centrally mounted battery, a frontal fuel cell and electric drive unit, and the front air intake to mix with hydrogen in the fuel cell. Land Rover believes the ecosystem of the hydrogen fuel cell is adequate to meet its need because of its high energy densities, quick refueling and low temperature range loss.

Funded in part by the Advanced Propulsion Center, supported by governmental agency UK, Project Zeus is led by Jaguar Land Rover and includes partners such as AVL, Delta Motorsports, UK Battery Industrialization Center and Marelli Automotive Systems. Other aspects of the plan include the move of Jaguar to a fully electric brand from 2025 and the launch of many Land Rover vehicles in 2024. FCEVs gnat hydrogen electricity to power an electric engine. JLR said that hydrogen powered FCEVs are able to provide high energy density, fast refueling and low temperature loss ranges that make this technology suitable for longer range vehicles or those running in warm and cold environments.