Viritech Developing Fuel-Cell-Powered Hydrogen Hypercar In Britain

May, 2021 - By SMI

Viritech, the U.K.-based startup, is developing an 1100bhp hydrogen-powered hypercar at the Warwickshire’s MIRA Technology Park.

Viritech aims to become the leading developer of hydrogen powertrain solutions across the globe, though the company doesn’t have plans to become a full-time automaker. The hydrogen-powered hypercar ‘Apricale’, was announced in January 2021 and in the last month, the company stated that the development would happen at the MIRA Technology Park. The company has not revealed its specifications, however stated that initially the car will be built in limited volumes. This will act as a “start point” for their business model that will ultimately involve fuel-cell tech for heavy-duty trucks, aerospace, marine, and power-generation applications.

Viritech claimed that the Apricale will have "half the weight of a battery car," which will aid in improving performance. In a previously released video, representative of Viritech stated that the company has certain plans to concentrate on developing intellectual property that be can be licensed to current manufactures. The company’s CEO - Timothy Lyons, and CTO - Matt Faulks also mentioned that they expect fuel cells to cohabit together with batteries to meet enormous demand for clean energy in the coming years.

Apricale is expected to be a direct rival for the Hyperion XP-1 that was announced last year. Similarly to Viritech, Hyperion has plans to use the XP-1 to catch attention to fuel-cell tech that could be used in other applications. Hyperion has claimed a top speed of 221-mph and 1,000 mile range for their XP-1 at the car’s launch event, which will help Viritech with their goal. Viritech has announced that dynamic testing at MIRA with the first Apricale prototype will begin in 2022 and launching series production will happen in 2023. The company is also developing a truck called the ‘Jovian’ and it is one of a number of ‘reference designs’. Viritech will further exhibit how its technologies could be executed by various industries.