A hydrogen-powered truck recently debuted at the Dakar Rally in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, making it the first such vehicle to feature at the event. It's a small, if not historic win, for renewable energy and a sign that there's room at the table for more than purely battery-electric vehicles.
While hydrogen tech has taken a back seat to EVs in recent years, the field has avoided stagnation. There are some genuinely innovative players in the space, and one of them is Gaussin SA, a French startup focused on building zero-emission smart vehicles. With the H2 Racing Truck, Gaussin gave us a glimpse of its vision for the future.
The H2 in rally form features a unique set of two 300-kilowatt electric motors, paired with juice from batteries and hydrogen fuel cells. The truck can carry up to 80 kg of hydrogen and travel nearly 250 km in race conditions. That's on a single charge, which Gaussin says takes only 20 minutes for the H2 to complete.
At the Dakar Rally, Gaussin took the opportunity to demonstrate the truck's mettle in brutal conditions, driving the H2 Racing Truck through 19 km of the rally's hypnotic dunes and mountains. The demo potentially reached as many as one billion viewers. That's the number of people tuning into the event each year since the first one in 2010.
Gaussin hopes the effort pays off, as it needs to bring attention to the other vehicles in its stable. The company is gearing up to launch commercial versions of its all-electric and hydrogen trucks later this year, even enlisting Lionel Messi to help with promotional activities.
Between football superstars and rally raids, the French startup appears to have its hands full in 2022. Can it pull focus, stay the course, and ride the wave to the top? We'll find out soon enough, but if it does everything right, Gaussin could be in for a bright future.
