Will the first electric Ferrari scheduled for 2022 be hydrogen-powered ?

Will the first electric Ferrari scheduled for 2022 be hydrogen-powered ?

Recently while I was on a plane on a European flight coming from Paris, seating next to me was a young man. Contrary to what happens seldom nowadays in these flights we started a conversation. At some stage of our talk he asked me what I do and after replying I asked him back the same question. He then told me he is a professional driver that has raced several times in the 24 hours of Le Mans series as well as other endurance competitions and also in the GT series championship. He explained to me that now is involved in a new project named Mission H24 whose aim is to introduce hydrogen-powered racing cars to the 24 hours of Le Mans. He told me the car he is driving and they are developping weights over 1 ton, has a braking energy recovery system and 650 hp to what I replied “that’s a lot but a bit less than my F12 Berlinetta”. After my impertinence the ice become completely broken and our conversation immediately switched to the Ferrari cars world, driving experiences. At a certain point I asked him how different is the H24 driving experience to the combustion engine cars he drives at Le Mans. He referred that took him one year just to adapt to the H24 because the torque develops in a very different manner to the one he was used in the Le Mans series cars. With such an interesting conversation partner the two and a half hours flight passed at the speed of light and when we started descending towards Lisbon he told me that his team had hired the Estoril racing circuit near Lisbon for several days in order to carry out various tests on the H24 and that was the reason why he was there. Before I left the plane in a hurry he politely said that in normal conditions he would be very pleased to invite me to the Estoril pit and show me the car around but, this time, due to the secrecy of what they were doing the team manager wouldn’t allow any outsiders.

After meeting this kind and polite young French racing driver the first thing I did when I was in front of my computer again was to do a search to find out who he is and what’s the H24 project about. That’s what I found:

Mission H24 car (pictures below at SPA) is a partnership between the ACO and GreenGT, a Swiss company that produces electric-hydrogen propulsion systems and previously completed the first hydrogen-powered lap of the Circuit de la Sarthe in 2016.The stated purpose of the project is to promote and develop hydrogen-powered vehicles ahead of their anticipated Le Mans debut in 2024. Hydrogen is stored in the car. The hydrogen atoms are sent through a platinium membrane that separates the electrons from the protons. The electrons produce an electric current that powers the motors. The hydrogen protons (no longer necessary) are introduced to air on the other side of the membrane in the form of water. (diagram below).

If the present H24 technology continuous being perfected and proves in the racing endurance field at the 2024 Le Mans, probably in the future we will see an electric Ferrari that is powered by hydrogen.



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What you said is true but due to the fact that hydrogen cell vehicle are filled in the same manner as any petrol and diesel car the existing infrastructure could be rapidly reconverted in the case there will be enough vehicles to justify it. Hydrogen cell vehicles are considered electric and the advantage they have now in comparison with the vehicles powered exclusively by batteries is the refueling time and the range that are similar to the present combustion engine cars.
In the case a future battery is developed that in terms of charging time and range matches hydrogen cell vehicles, their advantage becomes inexistent.
We have to wait and see what the future reserves us but personally, and no matter how many advantages the electric cars will present, I'm convinced that I'll never get accustomed to cars where we can't ear the sound of the engine.