Ferrari’s Hydrogen Powered Engine

10 June 2024

Unlike hydrogen fuel cells, which generate electricity that is then used to power motors, hydrogen combustion engines simply burn hydrogen instead of gasoline in a process that emits no carbon dioxide.

It’s not a new idea—BMW built a hydrogen-powered 7-Series in the early 2000s—but this is the first time Ferrari has publicly expressed interest in it. Ferrari sees hydrogen combustion as a way to drastically reduce emissions. Ferrari has filed a patent application for a hydrogen-powered internal-combustion engine, hinting that the automaker is considering this as a way to keep combustion engines alive in a future with stricter emissions regulations.

A hydrogen engine would generate no greenhouse gases and minimal amounts of other pollutants like carbon monoxide and particulates, Ferrari claims in the patent application, which was published by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on Feb. 29 but filed by Ferrari in 2023. Minimal emissions is not the same as zero emissions, however, and there’s some concern about the overall carbon footprint of hydrogen production. While hydrogen generated through electrolysis, with electricity from renewable sources, has low overall emissions, other production methods using fossil fuels could be as dirty as coal, the non-profit Rocky Mountain Institute said in 2022. And ‘refilling’ would be more inline with gasoline and diesel, saving the hours EVs present.

Click here to read more

Drawing – Patent Document