Leveraging more than 90 years of combined hydrogen experience and collaborating under the heavy-duty hydrogen fuel system joint development MOU announced in February 2021, Ballard Power Systems and Chart Industries have successfully tested a fuel cell powered by liquid hydrogen.

For the test, a Ballard FCmove-HD fuel cell was paired with a Chart liquid onboard hydrogen (HLH2) vehicle fuel system (functionally identical to the one displayed at ACT Expo on 1 September 2021); this testing was conducted at Chart’s hydrogen test facility in Minnesota.

Just like conventional diesel tanks, Chart’s liquid hydrogen fuel tanks can be side mounted and dual-side mounted to increase vehicle range. Other configurations according to customer requirements are available on request.

The demonstration confirms that heavy-duty vehicles powered by Ballard fuel cells will be able to employ Chart HLH2 vehicle fuel systems that utilize liquid hydrogen as a fuel. Liquid hydrogen has a significant space, weight and range advantage compared with gaseous hydrogen, allowing for up to double the range without space claim and payload impacts, and simplified fueling infrastructure for heavy-duty mobility applications such as class-8 trucks, buses, rail, and marine.

This recent work builds upon Chart’s previous fill, hold, and vaporization testing of the Chart HLH2 vehicle fuel system, and long-established credentials in LNG service for vehicle fuel systems.

Building upon this success will be to identify applications in which liquid hydrogen has the potential to unlock long-distance opportunities, such as truck, coach bus, off-road, rail and marine. The products tested as part of the work to date include Ballard’s FCmove and Chart’s liquid hydrogen tanks which would be suitable for such applications. Chart and Ballard will work to identify a potential demonstrator for liquid hydrogen road testing over the coming months.