Over the long weekend (Happy Birthday America!), I had a chance to spend some quality time at the movie theatre. I saw Pixar’s new flick, Wall-E, which while notable for its great animation and adorable characters, resonated most with me for its earth-friendly message.

The general gist of the film is that planet earth has turned into an unlivable trash dump and for 700 years humans have been forced into space on a Star Trek-esque ship. The key to humans returning to earth arrives in the form of a small green plant, a heavy dose of symbolism not lost on viewers who are most likely familiar with the dogma of “being green.”

What I found remarkable was not the environmentally friendly message (as that is something we are all familiar with), but the fact that the two young girls next to me, both under the age of 6, were quietly absorbing this message. They sat in their seats, enthralled by the cute characters, the simple love story and the animation, and whether they realized it or not, they were also learning the basic tenets of environmentalism.

Now all we need is for Cars 2 to come out and have the plot circle around the “Alternative Energy 500,” featuring the Pninfarina Sintesi!

By Chris O’Brien, Senior Engineer
Nuvera Fuel Cells

Let me start by saying that it’s great fun to work on a project that gets noticed. From the start, we knew that the opportunity to design the fuel cell powertrain for Pininfarina’s Sintesi concept car would be a great showcase for our technology – a chance to get the word out about what fuel cells can do in a car that’s made for them. Then, a few weeks before the unveiling of the car at the Geneva Motor Show, the word hit the blogosphere:

“The fuel cells for the electric-hydrogen hybrid, rumored to be worth 700 horsepower all told, are being distributed all around the body…”
Autoblog Feb 7th 2008

“…it will be an electric-hydrogen hybrid system and not a typical one at that (not all concept cars need to generate 700 hp the way the Sintesi apparently does)…” AutoblogGreen Feb 7th 2008

“The advanced drivetrain was a joint-effort between Pininfarina and UK firm Nuvera Fuel Cells. Its makers claim the Sintesi develops a combined output of 700hp…”
Motor Authority March 3rd 2008

…and many more…

The word was getting out all right – it just happened to be inaccurate! Aside from the fact that we’re a US (not UK) company, the engine that we were busy designing didn’t have 700 horsepower! I still have no idea how that number got into all those stories. While the Sintesi may only have 240 horses under the hood (or actually, next to the wheels…there is no hood), it still drives like a high performance car.

While most people think of power as the defining characteristic of an engine, the power isn’t directly what makes the car accelerate - the torque on the wheels is responsible for that. Most combustion engines are quite good at this…at high speeds. IC engine cars rely on the transmission gearing to convert the engine shaft torque at a few thousand RPM to axle torque at a few hundred RPM. In the Sintesi, we have a completely different situation. The electric motors are right in the wheels - no transmission required - and these motors produce their highest torque at the lowest speeds. For the driver, this means that that from a standstill the fuel cell engine can funnel every bit of its power right into the wheels - providing a push-you-back-in-your-seat acceleration.

The end result? The Sintesi, with “only” 240 hp (110 from the fuel cells and 130 from the batteries), can accelerate from 0 - 60 mph in 6.4 seconds. That’s pretty fast. Top speed on the fuel cell power alone is 119 mph; with battery boost the car can reach 155 mph. Not bad for a car that also gets 50 miles per gallon and seats four!

For more information on the Sintesi, see Pininfarina’s site. To learn more about its engine, Nuvera’s Quadrivium Drive, check out this article.

Pininfarina, the famed Italian automotive designer, revealed its latest concept car at the Geneva Motor Show today. The revolutionary new car is called the Sintesi, and it features Nuvera’s new Quadrivium drive, which combines the high efficiency of fuel cells with the ability to operate on both conventional and biofuels.

When Pininfarina approached us with the ambitious challenge of making a high performance power train using ecologically benign technology, Nuvera engineers changed direction away from conventional technologies and embraced a radical new fuel cell concept. The result was four distributed wheel power modules, which allowed the car itself to be designed around the passengers, rather than the power train. The Sintesi brings together the cutting edge design approach of Pininfarina with our cutting edge technology, to provide a concept car as innovative in its look as it is in operation. What do you think of the new Sintesi?