2023 Vauxhall Vivaro-e Hydrogen van unveiled: pictures, specs and on-sale date

The Vauxhall Vivaro-e will be available with a hydrogen fuel-cell powertrain by 2023. The new model, called the Vivaro-e Hydrogen, is capable of 249 miles on a full tank and its cargo volume is identical to its battery-electric and diesel counterparts.  

Unlike a battery-electric vehicle (BEV) such as the regular Vivaro-e, a hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle doesn’t need to be plugged in. Instead, you refuel the Vivaro-e Hydrogen at a hydrogen filling station, which takes up to three minutes at most. For reference, it takes seven hours to charge the electric Vivaro-e from 0-100% using a home wallbox charger.

There's a 10.5kWh lithium-ion battery under the front seats for additional assistance starting up and accelerating, and it's also capable of providing a pure-electric driving range of 31 miles when fully charged. The battery also allows for regenerative braking. 

Other than how you fuel the car, the dimensions of the Vivaro-e Hydrogen are unchanged. It’s available in two wheelbases, with either 5.3 or 6.1 cubic metres of cargo volume and two sliding side doors. The maximum payload is 1,100kg.

The Vivaro-e Hydrogen will go on sale in Europe this year as a left-hand-drive Opel product; right-hand-drive Vauxhall versions are expected to arrive in the UK by 2023 – at which point there will hopefully be more than the 11 hydrogen fuelling stations currently available here. 

Aside from the forthcoming Vivaro-e Hydrogen, there are only two hydrogen fuel-cell cars available in the UK: the Hyundai Nexo SUV and the Toyota Mirai saloon – the second generation of which we recently tested.