Is This Hydrogen-Fueled American Pickup The Truck Of The Future?

Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus may have a European-sounding name, but the startup automaker is very much an American outfit.

If you’ve heard of the New York and Connecticut-based company, also known as SCG, it’s probably from its exploits racing at Le Mans and in the Baja 1000 and the supercars and trucks spawned by the efforts, which include a podium in France and two class wins in the desert.

Now the company has shifted its focus to something more industrial in the form of a hydrogen fuel cell work truck it has posted about on Facebook.

Fuel cells combine stored hydrogen with atmospheric oxygen in a catalyst to generate electricity in a zero-carbon emission process that only creates water vapor. The systems are typically lighter and much faster to fill up than pure battery-electric powertrains.

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Renderings of the SCG HFC prototype show what looks like Ford F-150 cab combined with a quad-headlight front end inspired by the SCG Boot it raced at Baja. The fuel cell system is mounted between the cab and bed.

Glickenhaus has sped up the process even more by designing it with swappable tanks that don’t need to be refilled in the vehicle. The idea is that it owners would set up their own fueling depots, possibly supported by solar-powered systems that crack hydrogen from water. The company has been developing the technology for a racing truck it calls the 008 Dakar/Baja Buggy, which it intends to enter in its namesake races.

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Glickenhaus said that it aims to deliver a vehicle with an 800-mile range and operating costs on par with diesel trucks. Owner Jim Glickenhaus elaborated in comments posted on The Drive that the trucks will be conversions of production vehicles, as the F-150 body suggests.

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A timetable for the vehicle’s production launch hasn’t been announced, but Glickenhaus said a video of one being tested will be released this month.