Hydra Energy, the Hydrogen-as-a-Service (HaaS) provider for commercial fleets looking to reduce emissions and costs with limited risk and no up-front investment (earlier post), has delivered its first hydrogen-converted, heavy-duty truck to paying fleet customer Lodgewood Enterprises.

Hydra offers a proven hydrogen-diesel, co-combustion retrofit approach; the retrofitted engines can run up to 40% hydrogen, with a concomittant reduction in emissions. Hydra has completed three years of successful on-road testing of the hydrogen-diesel, co-combustion injection system proving no loss in fuel efficiency, range, power, torque, or payload capacity and a carbon emissions reduction of up to 40% per converted truck.

Lodgewood Enterprises, a full service short- and long-haul trucking company based out of Prince George, British Columbia, received the initial truck marking the first of 12 semi-trucks to be converted with Hydra’s fully reversible, hydrogen-diesel conversion kit at no cost to Lodgewood. The clean trucks will run on low-carbon hydrogen at a fixed discount below the cost of diesel which Hydra has sourced from Canadian industrial chemical provider, Chemtrade.

As a fleet owner, it was an easy decision to adopt Hydra’s low risk, co-combustion technology and to begin reducing emissions immediately without negatively impacting truck performance, warranty, and driver experience. Our converted fleet stands to reduce CO₂ emissions by over 800 tonnes per year helping us also attract a newer, younger generation of drivers concerned with the environment. And we've lowered our fuel costs in the process. We’re proud to have one of the first hydrogen-converted trucks on the road and look forward to our continued partnership with Hydra.

—Lodgewood President Arlene Gagne

Hydra’s HaaS model connects existing low-carbon hydrogen supply and demand in a way that delivers immediate off-takers for chemical companies’ by-product hydrogen and guarantees commercial fleet operators long-term fuel contracts at diesel-equivalent (or lower) prices. For Prince George-based trucking companies specifically, this entails a special discount due to Hydra’s agreement with Chemtrade in the region.

Hydra pays for and installs fully reversible, hydrogen-diesel, co-combustion conversion kits into commercial fleet trucks and the necessary fueling stations reducing risk and investment for fleet customers. Further risk reduction was achieved with Hydra’s completion of a successful three-year pilot test program in Prince George covering more than 200,000 km on commercial routes with commercial drivers tackling the freezing temperatures and uphill climbs for which the region is known.

Lodgewood is the ideal first customer due to their location within BC, their return-to-base routes, and their eagerness to adopt new technologies. They also now benefit from the CleanBC Heavy-duty Vehicle Efficiency Program Incentives administered by the BC Trucking Association and the Province of British Columbia’s expansion of hydrogen-powered vehicle weight allowances by 1,000 kg, allowing for the addition of hydrogen tanks with no loss of payload to fleets. We look forward to delivering their next hydrogen-converted trucks and to working with other commodity haulers looking to switch to clean trucking sooner than later.

—Hydra Energy CEO Jessica Verhagen

Other fleet owners in the Prince George area with round trips no longer than 1,000 km can test out the Lodgewood converted truck and sign on to have their trucks converted later next year. This is when the hydrogen capture at Chemtrade’s local plant will be completed, and low-carbon hydrogen fuel will be flowing.

Hydra’s technology has been in development since 2012. Moving from prototype to commercially proven technology has been possible due to the support of the Government of Canada’s Innovation Research Assistance Program (IRAP), the Low Carbon Economy Fund (LCEF), Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC), Innovate BC, the Northern Development Initiative Trust (NDIT), NSERC, MITACS, and Just Business.