- Angelo thanks so much for joining me today. We are seeing an industry push toward cleaner vehicles, most visibly electric vehicles. So why all the attention now? Is it as simple as improving technology, meeting consumer demand or is it preference?
- Thanks, Rich, for having me. That's a great question. I think there's a great demand in the effort of helping climate change to bring zero emissions vehicles to the market. And there's a plethora of vehicle types that are electric. And what we've tried to do here at Hyperion is bring another type of electric vehicle, which actually is a hydrogen electric vehicle. And so I believe that they're trying to solve these issues for the world is driving it, and also the latest developments in electric motor technology has come a long way in the last 20 years. And that's helped a lot to bridge the gap between a lot of technologies in the past and a lot of technologies of the future, which of course, would be where Hyperion stands.
- All right, so explain to me a bit about hydrogen because I know that it's seen as sort of a cleaner fuel but you're talking hydrogen electric. How does that work?
- Yes. Thanks for asking that question. So you can store electric energy in a number of ways and most people are used to storing in battery form. What we do at Hyperion is store it in actual the chemical bonds of a hydrogen atom. So hydrogen actually is stored between the two hydrogen atoms and it's tied together through one electron. And as it passes through a fuel cell, that hydrogen is released. I'm sorry, the electron is released and it powers the whole power of a car. So what makes our car special and unique, in addition to that fact that it can store it in this different way, is that you can store a lot more energy and your car can do a lot more things. So for example, because it's so efficient, it can have a very, very high tops range. So over 1000 miles range. It can also have a very, very fast refill time. You can refill our car in three to five minutes, which is 10.7 times faster than any supercharging station for battery electric vehicle. And you can do amazing things in the performance side because again of the low weight. It all comes down to low weight. So if you are running at a marathon and you're bringing water with you, the question is, do you want a very heavy water bottle? Or do you want a light water bottle? And a battery water bottle weighs over 1000 pounds and our water bottle weighs just about 20 pounds. So it allows us to do more including have very, very high top speed, very, very high zero to 60s. Very efficient systems and it's also recyclable, which is very important. Because at the end of life, we are very, very easy to recycle as opposed to battery electric. So that's differences and that's what we like to accomplish.
- So I'm sure you get a lot of questions about safety when it comes to hydrogen. So can you explain the safety factor and also when it comes to recharging, I mean, we're seeing these electric car recharging stations pop up everywhere. Is that the same story for hydrogen?
- Yes, yes. So we're actually more focused at Hyperion at building stations than cars. We build the car to tell a story but the stations are actually where our focus is. So you'll be seeing a lot more stations popping up, recharging hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. In addition to other electric forms as well which is what we focus on. To answer your question about safety, actually, hydrogen is one of the most safe fuels you can use because it's noncaustic, it's not cancerous, gets stored very, very efficiently in very, very robust forms. So they can withstand any type of impacts or heat. In fact, that's why it's used primarily in NASA missions because it's so light and because it's very, very resistant to heat and cold. So it's actually quite, quite safe.
- OK, now we all want to hear about your supercar, this is the XP-1. What makes this a supercar? Tell me about the range? Some of the features? And I imagine it looks pretty cool too.
- Yes, so we really wanted to build the ultimate vehicle that told the story of hydrogen because we believe a lot of people didn't know about hydrogen. Primarily understand that it is electric technology and so this car can actually go over 1000 miles range. It can go zero to 60 in under 2.2 seconds. It can go top speed of 222 miles per hour and can do all this through a series of four motors, very powerful motors in the corners of the wheels. Using a very high power fuel cell module, it's very also high voltage and that allows you to achieve really amazing performance and get some really exciting efficiency. And so what we've been doing over the last decade is building the most efficient way to build stations and cars to tell that story. And what's really wonderful about staying on the cutting edge at Hyperion, is we've been working with NASA and using a lot of groundbreaking technology, developing that technology, so we can put that into the car itself. So between the hydrogen storage system, between the hydrogen power system, between the active aerodynamics which also provide solar, we have a NASA technology in each of those components that allows us to really be on that cutting edge which is of course what's CES is all about.
- All right, speaking of CES, before we go, you have a surprise for us at this year's show. What are you going to be doing?
- That's right. So in addition to releasing more information about our vehicle and what it can do and when you'll find it available, we're also going to be driving the car in Las Vegas. So right now, it's actually, depending on when this is airing, it's going to be driving on the road, at all be famous Las Vegas landmarks so you can see the car in person or on the road in Las Vegas. And we're very, very proud of that, very excited to show that to the rest of the world.
- That is so exciting and I hope that I can get a ride in this car one of these days. You know, I'm based in Los Angeles. So, Angelo..
- That's right. Call me up and I'll set it up. Don't worry .
- OK. Angelo Kafantaris from Hyperion Motors. Thanks so much for joining us today, we appreciate it.
- Thanks for having me. Have a great day.