“A fuel cell from VW with up to 2,000 kilometers of range?”

AUTO BILD, Germany’s biggest car magazine, reported on the joint patent in November 2022 — “A fuel cell from VW with up to 2,000 kilometers of range?”. The report centres on what makes the cell different — a ceramic membrane instead of plastic, no platinum, no lithium dependency — and quotes CEO Dr. Sascha Kühn on why the ceramic cell can be produced at a fraction of the cost of polymer fuel cells.

The cost argument sits in the materials: the cell is made from abundant ceramics and needs no critical raw materials at all. The published system figures point the same way — production costs of the aSOFC system are more than 80 % below battery systems, and in a vehicle an Electric Power Cell (≈ $3,000) replaces a battery pack of roughly $20,000.

The report placed the technology in front of Germany’s broadest automotive readership. What carried it was verifiable substance: the granted patent held jointly with Volkswagen and five years of proof-of-concept work, including a test vehicle covering 2,000 km on a single tank. kraftwerk states the cooperation and the patent — and nothing more.

The numbers the report asked about live on this site today: the technology page explains the cell and explains every figure, and the datasheets are available on request, the vehicle catalogue lists 38 models upgraded by kraftwerk with published from-prices, and the FAQ covers costs, fuels and refueling. The original AUTO BILD article is linked from this page.