New Way Trucks and hydrogen fuel cell manufacturer Hyzon revealed North America’s first hydrogen fuel cell-powered electric refuse truck at Waste Expo in Las Vegas. The HFCEV will be part of pilot programs throughout California, beginning with Recology, an employee-owned solid waste and recycling hauler based in San Francisco.

The truck itself is powered by one of Hyzon’s 200 kW fuel cell systems, which the company says is 30% smaller, 25% more cost-effective to produce, and 20% more efficient at getting usable energy out of a kilogram of hydrogen than its competitors’ fuel cells.

The Hyzon system has already proven itself in a similar pilot project in Australia.

Building on Hyzon’s fuel cell electric refuse vehicle experience in Australia, Hyzon and New Way’s strategic partnership assembled a historic vehicle to eliminate emissions within a hard-to-abate industry. This is evidence of our shared mission to provide North American refuse collection fleets with an alternative power solution that both meets zero emissions requirements and performs the hard work a refuse truck needs to deliver day in and day out.

—Hyzon CEO Parker Meeks