The all-new INEOS Grenadier Demonstrator FCEV is the hydrogen fuel cell-powered off-roader that the company has been promising for almost a year. And it has just made its global debut at this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed.
It has been a busy day for INEOS. The company revealed the Grenadier Quartermaster pickup truck, but also the zero-emission version of the Grenadier SUV.
Previewed last year with the photo of a prototype wearing a white-and-green livery, the INEOS Grenadier Demonstrator FCEV is powered by BMW’s latest hydrogen fuel cell powertrain, which emits nothing but vapors of water.
The model looks pretty much like the ICE-powered versions. But there is a power bulge in the hood that draws the intention and gives a clue that there is something different about this version. The bulge is there to make room for the extra height of the fuel cell, but it will not make it to production.
The manufacturer’s representatives claim that there is nothing that the ICE-powered versions can do and the FCEV can’t.
The project started back in June 2022, when INEOS teamed up with Austrian engineering supplier AVL. Their target was to build a vehicle with zero emissions that would not have to compromise all the off-road capabilities of the ICE-powered Grenadiers.
The engineers working on the project had to modify the ladder frame and rear axle to accommodate the electric drive units that are supposed to deliver torque vectoring drive control to each of the wheels. INEOS dubs this as "gecko capability," a reference to control and maneuverability regardless of the surface it drives on, as well as a tighter turning circle.
Photo: INEOS
To achieve all these, the Grenadier Demonstrator FCEV went through rigorous testing along the trails of the Austrian mountains and on the off-road itineraries around Graz.
There are no powertrain details just yet, though. But if we are to consider the BMW iX5 figures, we should have to deal with a single rear-mounted electric motor producing 396 horsepower (401 PS). Hydrogen tanks full, and it can travel up to 313 miles (504 kilometers) on the WLTP cycle, while hydrogen is stored in two carbon-fiber reinforced plastic tanks, capable of holding 6 kilograms (13 pounds) of hydrogen. Refueling only takes around 3 or 4 minutes.
The BMW iX5 accelerates from 0 to 62 mph (0-100 kph) in less than 6 seconds and can reach a top speed of 112 mph (180 kph). But considering the angular shape of the off-road specific Grenadier, these figures might significantly change for the FCEV built by INEOS.
And this is not the last of the Grenadiers with zero emissions. INEOS is also working on an all-electric version of the off-roader, set to make its debut in 2026, if everything goes according to plan.
These two will be manufactured in Graz, Austria, while the ICEs will roll off the assembly line at the former smart plant in Hambach, France, that INEOS purchased back in 2020. The ICE-powered Grenadiers are set to arrive in the US and Canada in the first quarter of 2024.
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