“Volkswagen developing hydrogen fuel cell with 1243-mile range”

In November 2022, Autocar — Britain’s automotive institution — covered the patent filing of Volkswagen and kraftwerk under the headline “Volkswagen developing hydrogen fuel cell with 1243-mile range”. 1,243 miles is the imperial rendering of the roughly 2,000 kilometers that ran through the entire press wave of late 2022.

The cell behind the figure is ceramic through and through: a 38-mm micro-tube of about one gram, with a nanocrystalline electrolyte that conducts ions at 450–600 °C — far below the more than 800 °C of classic solid oxide cells. It converts fuel directly into electricity, without combustion and without platinum or lithium.

That one of the most established automotive titles in the UK picked up the story carried it beyond the German-language press. The substance it rests on is public: the joint patent DE102020119021B3, filed in July 2020 and granted in 2021, plus five years of proof-of-concept work with the Volkswagen Group — including a test vehicle covering 2,000 km on a single tank. Nothing beyond that cooperation and the patent is claimed.

On kraftwerkgroup.com you can see where the cell stands today: the technology page explains it layer by layer and explains every figure, and the datasheets are available on request, the vehicle catalogue lists 38 models upgraded by kraftwerk, and the FAQ answers the most common questions. The original Autocar article is linked from this page.