Netherlands gas supplier, Holthausen Group, has taken a Tesla Model S and hacked it to run on electricity and hydrogen. Combined with their ‘Project Hesla’ components, the vehicle can travel 1000km – more than double the distance of the cheapest Model S.

The Tesla model S is one of the most renowned electric vehicles on the market. The cheapest, the 75D model, boasts an impressive range of 416km, while the 100D and P100D have ranges of 539km and 506km respectively.
Holthausen Group boosted the maximum range of Tesla’s Model S by essentially hacking in a hydrogen power source. The company’s success at making an electric and hydrogen powered Tesla makes them the first in the world to do so.

Since Tesla wasn’t involved in the process, the Model S was acquired second-hand. Getting the Model S to accept hydrogen as a fuel source wasn’t easy, with Holthausen Group engineer, Max Holthausen, calling the vehicle’s system “a big maze.” Holthausen had to develop and implement a workaround, which increased the difficulty of the project.

In the end the team made it work; the Hesla now uses two power sources. The first is the already-installed battery and the second is the hydrogen stored in tanks installed inside the vehicle. Hydrogen molecules are pumped into a fuel cell where an anode removes their electrons which pass through a circuit to the battery to give it additional charge. The hydrogen (now ions) then pass into a cathode, where they are reunited with electrons, bind with oxygen to form water and exit the fuel cell.

So is hydrogen the answer?

Hydrogen has the potential to become a mass-produced alternative to petrol and even electricity thanks to seawater and a specific aluminium alloy, but don’t go trying to convert your own Tesla – or any electric car – just yet.
First of all the incorporation of hydrogen power costs an inordinate amount of money. According to The Drive, the hydrogen conversion costs upwards of $58,000 – tacked on top of the $79,500 Model S price tag. Then there’s the issue of replenishing the hydrogen supply. It’s not impossible, but not as convenient as recharging an electric car. There are only 39 hydrogen fuelling stations in the US, with most located on the West Coast – specifically California. The other four are in South Carolina (two stations), Connecticut (one), and Massachusetts (one).

Despite the scarcity of refuelling hydrogen tanks and the cost of the entire process, Holthausen is still moving forward with its Project Hesla. The company aims to perfect its prototype to acquire more data over the next several months. If these tests provide pertinent information, it could give other companies that have invested in hydrogen-powered vehicles the technical savvy to catch up to the race. Of those presently relevant, Honda is releasing hydrogen cars, Toyota has a hydrogen-powered truck and Mercedes Benz debuted its hydrogen-fuelled SUV in September.

These cutting edge companies constitute the first big automakers with fully-functional hydrogen vehicles on the road, but Holthausen and the Hesla could prompt still more ambitious parties to invest in hydrogen fuel in the near future.