The Ineos Grenadier, the Defender-inspired off-roader with a BMW engine, is now on the production line. The SUV should be coming to the US market at some point, but we don’t know what the manufacturer’s timetable for that release will be. However, what we do know for sure is that Ineos Automotive will be in no rush to roll out the hydrogen-powered Grenadier. And the reason is not that the company does not have the technology developed.
The Grenadier was recently launched in Scotland where the automaker’s commercial director Mark Tennant spoke CarExpert. Tennant confirmed Ineos Automotive already has a fully functional hydrogen Grenadier but is yet to be released due to the current global hydrogen replenishment infrastructure. Or, rather, the lack thereof.
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“Fuel cell electric vehicles for us are a true zero emission option for these vehicles, but due to infrastructure issues – there weren’t any – we can’t fully bet on fuel cells until we have more confidence that people can fill them up,” Tennant summarized the current situation. . “We will have fuel cell vehicles operational by the middle of the year, that has nothing to do with whether fuel cell technology is there.”
Details surrounding the Grenadier FCEV are scarce and no information is available about its powertrain. Ineos Automotive first announced its plans for the hydrogen Grenadier in October 2021 when it said it would cooperate on the development with AVL, one of the world’s leading automotive powertrain engineering specialists. The automaker’s parent company produces more than 400,000 tonnes of low-carbon hydrogen annually and a fuel cell version of the off-roader sounds like a plausible next step.
Apparently not. Moreover, for now, the hydrogen infrastructure is not yet sufficiently developed to support the launch of a production hydrogen off-roader. About a year ago, Ineos Automotive CEO Dirk Heilmann said the hydrogen Grenadier wouldn’t arrive until 2027 “at the earliest.” In the meantime, the company is considering a battery-powered version of the SUV, as well as other versions a slightly smaller electric off-roader.
