BAC Mono to adopt hydrogen power
Lightweight sports car will be one of the first of its type to use hydrogen.
Briggs Automotive Company (BAC) has teamed up with powertrain engineers Viritech to create a hydrogen-powered version of its Mono sports car.
Liverpool-based BAC first launched the Mono back in 2011, with the lightweight sports car designed to offer a pure and unfiltered driving experience. It has traditionally been powered by a 2.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine, but this will be replaced with a hydrogen fuel cell setup in this new version.
Viritech, who develop hydrogen powertrains in the automotive, aerospace, power and marine sectors, has won a Niche Vehicle Network Feasibility Study Grant funded by the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV) which will help to push this project forward.
Neill Briggs, BAC co-founder and director of product development, said: “We are delighted to be working with Viritech and its ground-breaking approach to FCEV. Technology has always been at the forefront of our development, and we remain committed to exploring new automotive innovations within all that we do.
“Alternative fuels, along with lightweight construction methods, reduce vehicle emissions considerably without compromising driver engagement, something we are committed to preserving at BAC.”
BAC’s Mono will provide the basis for the creation, but despite the conversion to hydrogen power the firm says that the resulting vehicle ‘continues to be led by BAC’s principles of uncompromising performance and driver experience’.
The partnership is also being used to help BAC reduce its emissions by 2030, following an announcement that it was going ‘climate positive’ in 2019 through the use of a carbon offsetting programme. It has previously explored the use of ultra-lightweight materials such as graphene and niobium as a way of ‘maximising the efficiency of future vehicles’.
Matt Faulks, Viritech chief technical officer, said: “Working with BAC on this exciting challenge is a perfect partnership. We share a passion for automotive innovation and developing high-performance vehicles, as well as a commitment to ensuring all entities in the industry from Niche to high volume have a vibrant, zero emission future.”
