Viritech Apricale is a 1072hp hydrogen hypercar
Will be a world-first, including the revolutionary power management system cooked up by Viritech
The ongoing Goodwood Festival of Speed is seeing a host of new cars debut. However, none can boast the title of being the world’s first production hydrogen hypercar except the Viritech Apricale. The Viritech Apricale is a limited edition 1072hp hypercar from the UK and aims to offer more than just performance and striking looks.
Limited to just 25 units with a price tag of around £1.5 million before tax, Viritech claims the Pininfarina-designed Apricale is a demonstration vehicle for its fuel-cell technology. The UK-based firm plans to offer the powertrain technology to third-party carmakers to use hydrogen-powered passenger cars, buses, trucks and even aircraft.
The Apricale gets powered by a 400kW electric motor on each axle, delivering a headlining 1072hp and 1000Nm torques. Power gets sent to all four wheels via a single-speed transmission which allows 0-100kph sprint time of less than 2.5seconds and a top speed of over 200mph (or 321kph). However, the highlight figure isn’t just the power output but the sub-1000kg weight that Viritech has achieved while housing hydrogen fuel cells, a 6kWh battery pack and electric motors!
Wondering how Viritech managed it? It comes down to the clever integration of hydrogen fuel tanks into the carbon fibre monocoque chassis instead of having it nestled in between. Even the wheels are carbon fibre units saving essential kilograms.
Besides adopting these exotic hypercar manufacturing approaches, Viritech applies a game-changing idea with the Apricale. “Hydrogen fuel cells have, until now, been used as range extenders for powertrains with batteries at their heart,” explains Viritech’s CTO Matt Faulks to media house TopGear. “We’ve essentially turned that approach on its head, developing a powertrain around a multi-hundred kW fuel cell system supported by a lightweight but highly efficient battery. This delivers hypercar performance for Apricale, but at less than half the weight of typical BEV hypercars.”
Viritech is in talks with Pininfarina to put the Apricale into production, with first deliveries expected early in 2024. If the technology sustains in real-world use, this vehicle might bring a revolution in the development of not just hypercars but mass-market performance cars as well.
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