Next year will be the year of electrification at Peugeot, with the lion brand announcing an offensive of 24 electric proposals, starting on two wheels, through the 9X8 that will race at Le Mans and finishing in the van. e-Expert Hydrogen??
This is an unprecedented model in the Peugeot line-up. It’s the first fuel cell of the lion spot and we not only saw it live at the Paris Salon, but also drove it for a short time.
It was, of course, very few kilometers, but they were enough to understand what Peugeot is planning with this proposal for professional use:
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Peugeot e-Expert Hydrogen explained by who decides
After driving this hydrogen bus, we had the opportunity to interview Xavier Peugeot, the head of commercial vehicles at Stellantis, who explained to us: “Electric vehicles are a growing technology and at Stellantis we have about 45% of the electric vehicle market. vans. But we can offer an additional hydrogen supply because it caters to different customer needs.”
We had a chat with Xavier Peugeot, who is responsible for commercial vehicles at Stellantis, at the Paris Motor Show in 2022. © Automotive reason
“I’ll give you a concrete example: we know that 83% of van drivers drive an average of 200 km. And that is no problem for an electric one. But we also know that 44% of these drivers never go more than 300 km, which means that the rest expect no emissions but more range.”
“With hydrogen technology, we can offer them four advantages: zero emissions, 400 km of autonomy, only three minutes to refuel and no compromises in terms of capacity,” explains Xavier Peugeot.
Up to 50 km electric range
This model is based on the same platform that serves as the basis for the exclusively electric Peugeot e-Expert. In the front we find an electric motor that produces a maximum of 100 kW (136 hp) and 260 Nm and a hydrogen fuel cell, where hydrogen and oxygen mix to generate energy.
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Already under the seats we have the same battery that we find in hybrids plug in from Peugeot, with a usable capacity of 10.5 kWh. Further to the rear, under the floor, where we find the battery in the conventional electric version, we now have three hydrogen storage tanks with a capacity of 4.4 kg.
Topping up with hydrogen can be done in just three minutes.
In total, the new Peugeot e-Expert Hybrid offers up to 400 km of autonomy, according to the WLTP cycle, with 350 km guaranteed by the hydrogen fuel cell and 50 km by the energy generated in the battery.
Just like a conventional electric or hybrid plug in, this battery can be charged from outside and supports charging speed up to 11 kW. Of course, it can also be charged with the energy generated during deceleration and braking.
“There were no compromises”
As Xavier Peugeot explained to us, the range of this van could have been “700 km”, but Peugeot did not want to make any “compromise” in terms of cargo space.
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“When you open the door of this hydrogen bus, you realize that it has exactly the same charging capacity as the electric version. And this is the basis of our products: no capacity obligations and additional electric offers, all with zero emissions,” said Xavier Peugeot.
This means that the Peugeot e-Expert Hydrogen van (in the medium version, the long version will come later) offers a loading volume of up to 6.1 m3a payload of 1100 kg and a towing capacity of up to 1000 kg.
How it works?
The technology behind this van, which Peugeot calls ‘mid-power plug-in hydrogen fuel cell electric’, has four different operating phases.
When starting, maneuvering and at lower speeds, the battery supplies the energy required for traction to the electric motor. At a stabilized speed, the energy that reaches the engine is supplied directly by the fuel cell.
When accelerating or in situations where more power is needed, such as overtaking or climbing, the fuel cell bears a large part of the cost.
Finally, in the braking and deceleration phase, the electrical energy is used and the electric motor can recharge the battery, so that the charge never falls below 50%.
Is it now possible to buy? How much?
The Peugeot e-Expert Hydrogen is already in production and available to order in markets such as France or Germany and, as Xavier Peugeot explained to us, there are already “hundreds of orders from companies”.
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“We are going to deliver in phases. We have the capacity to produce about 1000 hydrogen cans per year in 2022 and 2023 and we expect to grow to 5000 in 2024 and to 10,000 in 2025. So we expect strong growth. This (the market for hydrogen proposals) will accelerate and we are ready,” Xavier Peugeot told us.
As for the price: “At the moment, the price of a hydrogen bus strongly depends on the incentives, which were very high in Germany until recently. To give you an idea, with incentives you could buy a van in Germany for 46,000 euros. Such an electric van costs around 40,000 euros. In France, the price varies between €55,000 and €61,000”.
The difference with an equivalent conventional electric offering is still large, but Xavier Peugeot is adamant that the difference will be smaller and prices will fall: “This will change, it will evolve. We believe that all governments are very interested in the development of hydrogen.”
Infrastructure needs to accelerate…
Anyway, Xavier Peugeot confessed to us that at the root of everything is the infrastructure of hydrogen filling stations, which is still very scarce in Europe.
“Currently there are about 200 hydrogen filling stations in Europe, half of which are in Germany and about 25% in France,” he told us.
However, Xavier Peugeot thinks that will soon change: “Many other countries are also interested. The Netherlands, Italy and other countries already have ‘the arms in the air’. I am sure it will accelerate in Portugal as well.”
“We expect there to be 2500 hydrogen filling stations by 2030. This will accelerate,” he added.
Hydrogen only for professional use?
We ended this short interview with Xavier Peugeot by asking him about the possibility of using hydrogen more often in passenger proposals. And Xavier has closed the door to that possibility, while admitting it’s not the direct focus.
“At the moment we are focusing on the vans. The issue of passenger cars is not yet on the table. But as you can imagine, being ready for the pros, if we have to switch to passenger cars, it should be easy. But at the moment that has not been decided yet,” he said.
