The Hydrogen Combustion Alpine Alpenglow Now Makes 740bhp

Alpine may be eyeing a largely electric future, but it’s not hedging all its bets on batteries and motors just yet. It’s one of several companies actively investigating hydrogen combustion, and it’s used the Paris Motor Show to unveil its latest take on the tech: the Alpine Alpenglow Hy6.

If that name sounds familiar, it’s because we first saw the Alpenglow at Paris a couple of years ago as a static concept, then again at Le Mans earlier this year as a rolling prototype based around an LMP3 racing chassis and powered by a 2.0-litre, 340bhp four-cylinder.

This latest version, though, takes things to another level. Gone is the four-pot, and in its place is a 3.5-litre twin-turbocharged V6, revving out to 9,000rpm and producing 740bhp. Driving the rear wheels through a six-speed sequential gearbox, Alpine now reckons this rolling testbed will hit over 205mph.

A couple of visual tweaks differentiate it from the old Hy4 version. Most notably, to really hammer home the point about the new engine, the Alpenglow now has a glass engine cover, exposing its twisting exhaust manifolds. The rear aero is more serious, too, with a more upright wing and larger LMP-style dorsal fin running along the car’s spine.

Hydrogen combustion engines work in effectively the same way as traditional ICEs, but are modified to burn liquid hydrogen rather than fossil fuels. So far, Alpine has been clear that its development of the tech is largely intended for racing, with the FIA planning on allowing hydrogen-powered cars to enter the 24 Hours of Le Mans from 2028.

However, it also recently confirmed long-running rumours that it’s working on a supercar. Most of the sensible money right now points to that being electric, like the rest of the brand’s future road car output is currently planned to be, but it’s safe to say one powered by clean-burning hydrogen would be a lot more up our street – if the infrastructure to support it was there.

If nothing else, though, the Alpenglow likely gives us a pretty good sense of what we could expect visually from this car, and we’re certainly happy to see more and more brands working on keeping the internal combustion engine around in one form or another.