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Cadillac's Chief Marketing Officer: "Hydrogen Is the Future, Current EVs Make No Sense"

Cadillac’s Chief Marketing Officer believes in hydrogen fuel cars as the future of transportation. As far as current electric vehicles go, Uwe Ellinghaus considers they make no sense in the context in which the majority of electric energy is produced from fossil fuels.
Cadillac Urban Luxury Concept 1 photo
Photo: Cadillac
In an interview with Automobile Mag, Uwe Ellinghaus has said Tesla’s models aren’t good for the environment because of the fossil fuels used to make energy in the US and in other countries where Tesla models are popular. In case there’s a renewable energy source available for charging, Tesla cars are alright - we think, although Ellinghaus doesn’t mention this “minor” detail in his statement.

Cadillac’s Chief Marketing Officer considers hydrogen fuel cell cars as the future of transportation because they make their own electric power. All the world needs now, above a broad range of fuel cell vehicles available for purchase, is an infrastructure for refilling. Since hydrogen has specific safety requirements, an extra pump at regular gas stations isn’t enough, because the gas needs to be stored at an extremely low temperature to maintain its state.

Some of you don’t know this, but fuel cell vehicles only work if the hydrogen they use is in gas form. If the element’s temperature is raised, hydrogen becomes liquid.

Uwe Ellinghaus used to work for BMW, a company where he spent 15 years and which developed a combustion engine that ran on hydrogen. Such vehicles aren’t as effective as FCVs from an energy usage standpoint and aren’t compatible with future gaseous hydrogen refueling stations because they use liquid hydrogen.

BMW retired its test fleet back to its own testing grounds a few years back. Currently, BMW is testing FCVs that work with hydrogen gas and has even developed a specific tank that can store more hydrogen. The particular system works at a pressure of 700 bar, double the one used by “regular” hydrogen fueling systems.

Hydrogen cars and electric vehicles weren’t the only topics on Uwe Ellinghaus’s interview, the Cadillac exec admitting that the ELR was “a big disappointment.” But that doesn’t mean the end for such vehicles for the American brand.
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About the author: Sebastian Toma
Sebastian Toma profile photo

Sebastian's love for cars began at a young age. Little did he know that a career would emerge from this passion (and that it would not, sadly, involve being a professional racecar driver). In over fourteen years, he got behind the wheel of several hundred vehicles and in the offices of the most important car publications in his homeland.
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