Volkswagen Rules Out Hydrogen Power For Passenger Cars

In an interview with the Spanish arm of Auto Bild, Thomas Schafer, CEO of Volkswagen, ruled out the idea that Volkswagen might work on hydrogen-powered passenger cars. “Hydrogen is not for us,” he told the Spanish publication before elaborating.

This comes at a fascinating time in the auto industry as each automaker bets its development money on how electrification will play out. Companies including BMW, Toyota, and Hyundai seem to be developing hydrogen-based electric vehicles in the long game. For the shorter game, BMW and Hyundai are heavy into battery-powered cars, while Toyota seems to think hybrid is the better shorter-term play. Volkswagen, it appears, is all in on pure battery power for the long term.