An interagency collaboration between the US Department of Energy (DOE) and the Department of Defense (DoD) will support an opportunity to address disaster mitigation through the use of an advanced fuel truck technology concept known as H2Rescue. (Earlier post.)

The H2Rescue is a fuel cell/battery hybrid truck that first responders and the military can drive to disaster mitigation sites. It can provide sufficient hydrogen to provide power, heat, and even potable water for up to 72 hours.

This vehicle is to be a Class 5 or Class 6 truck, heavy-duty vocational vehicle. The envisioned fuel-cell/battery-powered hybrid emergency relief truck is to use a low temperature PEM fuel-cell/battery hybrid system to provide continuous electric power to meet emergency needs.

The truck is to operate on hydrogen fuel at pressures of either 350 bar (5,000 psi) or 700 bar (10,000 psi) with the ability to store enough hydrogen onboard to ensure the truck is capable of traveling 180 miles round trip to and from its emergency relief destination and then providing nominally 25kW of exportable power, at times sustained up to 72 hours.

Other advanced storage technologies may be envisioned in the future (e.g. cryo-compressed tanks and hydrogen carriers) but this FOA is limited to commercially available and road-certified compressed gaseous hydrogen storage tanks. The awardee will retain ownership of the vehicle at the end of the period of performance.

The solicitation (W81EWF20FOA0001) to support this opportunity can provide up to nearly $1 million in federal funds and requires an equal match of industry contributions.

The US Army Corps is leading the solicitation, which includes support from DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s Fuel Cell Technologies Office and Vehicle Technologies Office, as well as DoD’s Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Ground Vehicle Systems Center.

This demonstration will help identify hydrogen, fuel cell, and battery R&D gaps to ensure the technology not only meets the needs, but provides additional value to the emergency management field.