Hyundai Hydrogen Mobility AG has developed the world’s first heavy-duty truck powered by fuel cells. In Switzerland it is already in successful use.
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yundai Motor Company will be able to produce full 2,000 hydrogen-powered heavy-duty vehicles annually from 2022, promises Hyundai Hydrogen Mobility – a joint venture between Hyundai Motor Company and the Swiss company H2 Energy. The team has developed the world’s first heavy-duty trucks powered by fuel cells, and has already successfully put them on the road. In Switzerland, the first vehicles were handed over to haulage companies in 2020 – and almost 50 Hyundai Xcient Fuel Cells have been in regular operation since then.
Extremely positive feedback
According to Patrick Huber from Business Development at Hyundai Hydrogen Mobility AG, the feedback after more than three million kilometres driven and more than 2,500 tonnes of CO2 saved is extremely positive: “The vehicles work, there are no technical issues, and the customers are satisfied.” The heavy-duty trucks can be filled up with hydrogen in just 15 minutes, giving them a range of around 400 kilometres. According to Huber, low ambient temperatures have no great influence on the range. Two truck models are available, and their production is secured. “This means that the availability of vehicles no longer represents a bottleneck on the road to climate-neutral transport,” says Huber.
Before H2 Energy set up the joint venture with Hyundai Motor Company in 2019, the company had designed a fuel cell truck for the Swiss retail chain Coop. What is more: H2 Energy had built the first hydrogen filling station in Switzerland, produced the hydrogen in its own electrolysis plant and entered into an electricity usage contract with the local electricity supplier. “This allowed us to map the whole ecosystem and show that it works.”
Creating a practical infrastructure
The practical application provided H2 Energy with a lot of data: Among other things, the team was able to observe the impact of cold and hot weather on the technology, and quantify the influence of topography on hydrogen consumption, but data on fuel cell degradation was also collected. With all this knowledge, the company approached Hyundai and was able to win the car manufacturer as a partner to jointly develop the Hyundai Xcient Fuel Cell and make fuel cell trucks available throughout Europe in the future. In tandem to these vehicles, a practical infrastructure must, of course, also be created: “So far, there are eleven filling stations in Switzerland and 95 in Germany – but the country is about ten times bigger and also more populous than Switzerland. However, the filling station operators in Switzerland are showing a willingness to invest further in the hydrogen filling station network.”
Transporters is currently being offered a pay-per-use model which includes all costs – from refuelling to service. It thus relieves the transporter of risks related to the technology, the price of hydrogen and the resale value. In Switzerland, an emissions or consumption-based levy is charged for heavy goods vehicles – as this levy does not apply to emission-free drives, the additional costs for the vehicle (and the more expensive fuel) can thus be compensated. In Germany, alternative drive systems are directly subsidised. Huber nevertheless advocates that logistics companies should also be able to sell green transport to their customers as an additional service: “Here in Switzerland, the companies that want CO2-neutral transport are also quite prepared to pay more for it. And going forward, awareness that climate neutrality has value will certainly increase.”
