With the release of a Pininfarina-styled concept car at Auto Shanghai, this Wuhan-based automotive startup is putting all its eggs in the Hydrogen basket, with a plan to release something for the road within eight months on the way to building a portfolio of Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.
Grove's efforts will be based on a triple focus: Hydrogen powerplants, lightweight materials and clean manufacturing using renewables where possible. Through the partnership with Pininfarina's new Shanghai office, they expect to bring a European sense of style to their vehicles, and there's hardly a better placed company on the planet to deliver a prestigious design.
It claims to be the first automotive company in the world to focus on nothing but Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, and is a subsidiary of another Chinese company called IGE, through whom Grove expects "thousands of gas stations around China and the rest of the world [to be] fitted with Hydrogen tanks." Whether this becomes a reality remains to be seen, given Hydrogen's well-documented handling difficulties and energy inefficiencies.
We don't know much about the concept car here, either, apart from the fact that it's got a carbon fiber frame and bodywork for exceptional lightweighting, aerodynamic-looking wheels and a nice, if conservative, look to it. But Grove says it'll have something on the road by the end of 2019, so keep your eyes peeled!
Source: Grove Automotive