Photo: Hyzon
Hyzon is not wasting any time in conquering the long-haul commercial trucking industry. After developing hydrogen-powered heavy-duty vehicles, including what is considered in the industry to be the heaviest truck, the Rochester-based company is now teaming up with Chart Industries, to develop a liquid hydrogen-powered heavy-duty truck with a 1,000-mile range.
Since sustainability concerns have taken over the automotive industry, things got a lot more complicated when it comes to fuel. It’s not enough to come up with a groundbreaking, 154-ton hydrogen fuel cell-powered truck, like Hyzon did. Range and infrastructure also need to be considered.
In this particular case, the issue was integrating a –423 °F (-252 °C) liquid hydrogen tank with the truck’s fuel cell, which requires hydrogen gas at ambient temperature.
First of all, why liquid hydrogen? Because of its density. Considering that liquid hydrogen storage is two times denser than the standard 700 bar gaseous storage, a tank of liquid hydrogen will cover double the distance. And because it weighs less, it also increases the truck’s payload capacity.
By joining forces with energy equipment manufacturer Chart Industries, Hyzon plans to use liquid hydrogen in order to give hydrogen-powered trucks a revolutionary 1,000-mile range. In turn, this would also mean fewer refueling stations needed. Since these innovative trucks could match diesel trucks in terms of range, they would need to stop for refueling way less than the versions that use gas hydrogen.
According to Hyzon, this impressive range would enable U.S. coast-to-coast routes with just 4 refueling mega-hubs.
The 2 companies have an even bigger picture in mind. Instead of transporting hydrogen to refueling locations, which is costly and time consuming, green hydrogen production facilities could be built close to the actual stations, using clean energy sources, like the sun or the wind. And this liquid hydrogen-based model could be further applied in other transport sectors as well.
You might think that these developments could take a while. But both Hyzon and Chart Industries are ready to bring a 1,000-mile range, liquid hydrogen-powered truck to the market now.
In this particular case, the issue was integrating a –423 °F (-252 °C) liquid hydrogen tank with the truck’s fuel cell, which requires hydrogen gas at ambient temperature.
First of all, why liquid hydrogen? Because of its density. Considering that liquid hydrogen storage is two times denser than the standard 700 bar gaseous storage, a tank of liquid hydrogen will cover double the distance. And because it weighs less, it also increases the truck’s payload capacity.
By joining forces with energy equipment manufacturer Chart Industries, Hyzon plans to use liquid hydrogen in order to give hydrogen-powered trucks a revolutionary 1,000-mile range. In turn, this would also mean fewer refueling stations needed. Since these innovative trucks could match diesel trucks in terms of range, they would need to stop for refueling way less than the versions that use gas hydrogen.
According to Hyzon, this impressive range would enable U.S. coast-to-coast routes with just 4 refueling mega-hubs.
The 2 companies have an even bigger picture in mind. Instead of transporting hydrogen to refueling locations, which is costly and time consuming, green hydrogen production facilities could be built close to the actual stations, using clean energy sources, like the sun or the wind. And this liquid hydrogen-based model could be further applied in other transport sectors as well.
You might think that these developments could take a while. But both Hyzon and Chart Industries are ready to bring a 1,000-mile range, liquid hydrogen-powered truck to the market now.
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