They say the future is electric. Well, Arrington Performance might be too early to the party. At the 2021 SEMA Show in Las Vegas, they displayed a hydrogen-burning LS-powered 1949 Chevy pickup truck.
At this year’s SEMA show, there was a lot of buzz about EVs and futuristic technology. There were tons of conversion kits for regular ICEs to electric, but Arrington Performance came up with perhaps the most brilliant concept.
Arrington Performance’s 1949 Chevrolet truck runs on hydrogen gas. It technically has an LS engine with a supercharger. Mike Copeland of Arrington Performance, in conjunction with Bosch, figured out a way to power an LS engine with hydrogen gas.
The truck runs on hydrogen, which available in California in 40 different stations. Instead of a fuel tank, the 49 Chevy comes with a hydrogen tank metered at 5,000 psi. It’s channeled out through a fuel rail and uses multiple direct injectors per cylinder. The truck runs with the help of a couple of bespoke components including a regulator and a Bosch ECM.
The hydrogen setup is much more efficient than regular fuel. For starters, it has three times the power of gas. Therefore, you don’t need a big tank.
Like any other combustion engine, it comes with a camshaft and pistons - all the components you would find in a normal combustion engine. The only difference is the fuel source. The piston rings on this setup are a little lower on the piston, it’s super clean inside, and the oil control is different. Since the oil is not getting into contact with any combustion byproducts, who knows? Maybe the oil could last forever.
It might run on hydrogen but that doesn’t mean it’s slow. The LS engine comes with a Magnuson supercharger, helping it make 500 hp. For all that power, the only emissions are water. It might be a beast on the truck, but it’s also good for the planet - like a carebear.
Kevin Oeste of V8TV feels the hydrogen-burning LS-powered 1949 Chevy pickup truck is a fantastic concept and not just an idea. It’s something worth checking out.
Humphrey is a car enthusiast whose love and passion for automobiles extended into collecting, writing, driving, and working on cars. He got his passion for cars from his Dad, who spent thousands of hours working on his old junky 1970 E20 Toyota Corolla. Years later, he would end up doing the same with a series of lemons he’s owned throughout his adult life. Full profile
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