Motorsports tech company AVL Research has designed and dyno-tested an innovative internal combustion engine called H2-ICE. It has two liters of displacement and burns hydrogen gas instead of petrol, pumping out 410 PS (404 hp / 302 kW) and 500 Nm (369 lb-ft) of torque.
Per the manufacturer, the goal of the project is to dispel the myth about hydrogen-based combustion engines being too weak for racing purposes. The tests have shown that the mill has a power-to-displacement ratio of 205 horsepower per liter – close to the class-leading 2.0-liter turbo mill of the latest Mercedes-AMG cars.
Specifically for the project, the team implemented a water injection system into the air intake and modified the turbo kit accordingly. The most common issues of modern hydrogen-based IC engines are premature ignition and depleted air-fuel mixture; AVL Research claims it has managed to solve both.
