Opel is expanding the Vivaro delivery range with a very special version. The company car was already available with an electric motor, but will soon also be available as Vivaro-e Hydrogen. Indeed, with a fuel cell on board.
Cars with a fuel cell on board are still rare. Toyota has the Mirai and you can go to Hyundai for the Nexo, but that has given us the complete Dutch range. Until now. Opel is expanding with the Vivaro-e Hydrogen, a version with a fuel cell.
As mentioned, the delivery van is based on the electric Vivaro-e, but has a completely different powertrain. There are no battery cells in the soil, but hydrogen tanks. These are linked to a fuel cell that generates a modest 62 horsepower. The fuel cell is simply located under the hood. Incidentally, the Vivaro-e Hydrogen does have a battery pack on board, a 10.5 kWh unit that is located under the front seats of the bus. The Opel can be filled with hydrogen in just 3 minutes. The electric range is, purely on hydrogen, a not bad 400 kilometers (WLTP). The 10.5 kWh battery pack – which you can simply charge at a charging point – provides an additional 50 kilometers.
The loading volume is the same as that of the other Vivaros and is therefore 5.3 or 6.1 cubic meters. Indeed, the Vivaro-e Hydrogen is also available in two lengths. Versions of 4.95 and 5.3 meters are available. The Opel will soon be built in Rüsselsheim, Germany, and is expected to be on the market in the autumn. The Stellantis brothers of the Vivaro, the Citroën Jumpy, Peugeot Expert and probably also the Toyota Proace, will also receive a hydrogen version in the long term.
Competitor Renault will in turn come up with fuel cell versions of the Master and Kangoo in the course of this year.