An innovative fuel cell system based on high-temperature proton exchange membrane (HTPEM) technology from Blue World Technologies (earlier post) is being constructed for testing at the Alfa Laval Test & Training Center in Aalborg, Denmark. The test installation will explore the technology’s potential as a source of marine auxiliary power.... Read more →

Ballard Power Systems will provide fuel cell modules to Sierra Northern Railway—the freight division of privately-owned Sierra Energy Corporation, operating in Northern California—to power a zero-emission switching locomotive. A purchase order for the fuel cell modules is expected to be issued by Sierra by mid-year 2021. The pilot program will... Read more →

Hyzon Motors Inc. has begun production of 15 zero-emission hydrogen fuel cell vehicles for delivery to the Municipality of Groningen in The Netherlands at Hyzon’s European manufacturing facility. The Groningen Municipality orders are being fulfilled through Hyzon Motors Europe B.V., a joint venture between Hyzon Motors Inc. and Holthausen Clean... Read more →

ABB announced a strategic investment and development agreement with AFC Energy to further the advancement of fuel cell technology integration into its high-growth eMobility and data center segments. ABB and AFC Energy will partner on the testing and integration of fuel cells as part of the wider power portfolio for... Read more →

A major new European consortium, IMMORTAL, is developing higher performance fuel cell components for heavy duty trucks with a predicted lifetime of at least 30,000 hours. IMMORTAL (IMproved lifetiMe stacks fOR heavy duty Trucks through ultrA-durabLe components) is a €3.8-million (US$4.6-million), three-year project supported by the European Fuel Cells and... Read more →

The US Department of Energy (DOE) announced two funding opportunities totaling more than $162 million to improve efficiency and reduce carbon emissions among cars, trucks, and off-road vehicles. The funding will support the next stage of the SuperTruck initiatives—aimed at electrifying freight trucking—along with efforts to expand electric vehicle (EV)... Read more →

The Washington State legislature has passed legislation that sets a target for all MY2030 or later passenger and light-duty vehicles sold in Washington State to be electric vehicles. The new law establishes the most aggressive such state goal in the US—five years ahead of California’s 2035 target. Clean Cars 2030... Read more →

Nikola Corporation, IVECO and OGE have entered into a letter of intent for a collaboration to establish a business structure for transporting hydrogen via pipeline network from production sources to hydrogen fueling stations in support of fuel-cell electric vehicles (FCEVs). The collaboration is expected to enable cost-effective distribution of hydrogen... Read more →

UK-based Aeristech, a developer of high-speed electric motor and controller technology (earlier post), closed a £5.15-million (US$7-million) private funding round led by investors Sabien Technology, Vela Technologies and SAIC Venture Capital, the venture capital arm of China-based automaker SAIC Motor. The funding round will supercharge the company’s investment in its... Read more →

Truck makers and environmentalists have joined forces to push for the deployment of 11,000 charging points for electric trucks across the EU by 2025, rising to 42,000 by 2030. The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) and Transport & Environment (T&E) made this call to the European Commission in a joint... Read more →

Bosch and China-based premium commercial vehicle manufacturer Qingling Motors have established a joint venture in China: Bosch Hydrogen Powertrain Systems (Chongqing) Co. Ltd. The new company will develop, assemble and market fuel cell systems for the Chinese market. The goal is to pool the technology and market expertise of both... Read more →

The California Energy Commission (CEC) has approved a first-of-its-kind project to accelerate the deployment of infrastructure needed to fuel zero-emission trucks, buses and equipment. Administered by CALSTART, the EnergIIZE Commercial Vehicles (Energy Infrastructure Incentives for Zero-Emission Commercial Vehicles) project will use a concierge-like model working directly with eligible applicants to help plan and... Read more →

A new partnership comprising Los Alamos National Laboratory, Advent Technology Holdings Inc., Brookhaven National Laboratory, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) will work over the next few years to bring to market high-temperature proton exchange membrane (HT-PEM) fuel cells. Traditional PEM fuel cells have a relatively low operating temperature,... Read more →

The Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, Grand Est and Occitanie regions in France have signed the first order for dual-mode electric-hydrogen trains in France. Acting on behalf of the four regions, SNCF Voyageurs has placed an order with Alstom for the first 12 dual mode electric-hydrogen trains (plus two optional trainsets) in the... Read more →

In 2020, the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office (HFTO) launched the Million Mile Fuel Cell Truck Consortium (M2FCT) to leverage the potential opportunity fuel cells in the heavy-duty vehicle (HDV) market and to align with the H2@Scale vision for clean and affordable hydrogen across multiple... Read more →

Denmark-based shipping company MHO-Co is heading a consortium that will spend €4.5 million during the next three years on developing green solutions for the future of the maritime industry. Together with Aalborg University, among others, and with grants from the Energy Technology Development and Demonstration Program (EUDP), MHO-Co will test... Read more →

The European innovation project Flagships will deploy the world’s first commercial cargo transport vessel operating on hydrogen, plying the river Seine in Paris. Commercial operations are set to commence in 2021. The hydrogen cargo transport vessel will be owned by French inland shipowner Compagnie Fluvial de Transport (CFT), a subsidiary... Read more →

Toyota Motor Europe (TME) Fuel Cell Business will supply and integrate fuel cell modules into a zero-emission train prototype as part of the FCH2RAIL project in Europe. The main objective of the FCH2RAIL project is to develop, build, test, demonstrate and homologate a scalable, modular and multi-purpose Fuel Cell Hybrid... Read more →

Korea-based Doosan Fuel Cell, a developer of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs), will take part in the Korea-China Smart Farm Village project in Pocheon. This complex—comprising smart farms, hydrogen fuel cell generators, logistics systems and housing with leisure facilities—will sit on a 250,000 m2 (62 acre) parcel of land. Sookyung... Read more →

Toyota Motor Europe (TME) has become a direct shareholder in EODev (Energy Observer Developments). EODev—along with its partners—is positioning itself as a leading European designer, assembler and distributor zero-emission energy systems on an industrial scale. In early 2020, EODev and TME Fuel Cell Business integrated Toyota’s leading fuel cell technology... Read more →

With the shared goal of accelerating the transition to cost-effective, zero-emissions commercial vehicle and power generator technologies, Loop Energy and BayoTech announced a joint market development agreement for the deployment of hydrogen vehicles and hydrogen fueling infrastructure. The collaboration aims at reducing the complexity of adopting hydrogen electric solutions by... Read more →

Toyota has commissioned Victoria’s first commercial-grade permanent hydrogen production, storage and refuelling facility at its former manufacturing site at Altona in Melbourne’s west. Hydrogen is produced on site by a 200kW electrolyzer that uses electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen components and has the capacity to produce up... Read more →

China-based Great Wall Motors (GWM) released its hydrogen energy strategy. GWM says it will build an international supply chain ecology integrating hydrogen “production-storage-transportation-refueling-application”; break barriers on core technologies ;and connect the downstream industry chain, accelerating the commercial popularization of hydrogen energy. The hydrogen energy strategy of GWM covers both the... Read more →

Stellantis is developing a hydrogen fuel cell powered light commercial vehicle (LCV) in addition to its battery-electric offerings. The company says that fuel cells show great promise—especially for LCVs—as the next level of zero-emission propulsion technology. Fuel cell technology can fulfill customer range expectations combined with towing and payload capacity,... Read more →

China-based SANY, one of the largest construction equipment manufacturers in the world, is developing hydrogen fuel cell construction vehicles; two recent examples include a dump truck and a mixer truck, freshly rolled out of SANY’s intelligent flagship factory. The latter is the first hydrogen-powered mixer truck in the world. According... Read more →

To support the future of green automotive manufacturing and accelerate the UK’s transition to net-zero emission vehicles, the Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC) has guided £9.4 million (US$13 million) in public funding to 22 feasibility studies looking to scale up the industrialization of low-carbon emission vehicle technologies. In the second round... Read more →

A team from Fraunhofer IPT is developing a continuous production line that will be able to process fuel cell components in cycles lasting just seconds. The pilot line is set to be presented at the Hannover Messe Digital Edition from 12-16 April 2021. In a live stream, Fraunhofer IPT, together... Read more →

Toyota Motor Company and Beijing SinoHytec have established a joint venture company to promote the commercial vehicle fuel cell system industry in China. The planned joint venture will be based in Beijing and named Toyota SinoHytec Fuel Cell (FCTS). Last year, Toyota Motor and five Chinese OEMs—China FAW Corporation Limited... Read more →

ZeroAvia is launching the development program for a 2MW hydrogen-electric powertrain for full-size regional aircraft. The program kick-off is supported by a new raise of $24.3 million, led by Horizons Ventures, joined by a new investor: British Airways. Existing investors Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Ecosystem Integrity Fund, Summa Equity, Shell Ventures,... Read more →

Linamar Corporation has entered the evaluation phase for the first Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle Delivery Vans in their technology contract with the Center for Transportation and the Environment (CTE). CTE is managing the Next Generation Fuel Cell Delivery Van Deployment Project for the California Air Resources Board (CARB), awarded to... Read more →

UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps launched a £120-million scheme to enable local transport authorities to roll out zero-emission buses. The funding is being made available through the Zero Emission Buses Regional Area (ZEBRA) scheme. The funding will deliver up to 500 zero-emission buses, supporting the government’s wider commitment to introduce... Read more →

Cranfield Aerospace Solutions (CAeS)—the UK SME leading the Project Fresson consortium—will exploit recent advances in hydrogen fuel cell technology to develop a commercially viable, retrofit powertrain solution for the nine-passenger Britten-Norman Islander aircraft. Following a rigorous assessment of hydrogen technology innovators, CAeS welcomes Ricardo UK Ltd and Innovatus Technologies Ltd... Read more →

The California Energy Commission has awarded GTI and Sierra Northern Railway nearly $4,000,000 to fund the design, integration, and demonstration of a hydrogen fuel cell switching locomotive to support the Hydrogen Fuel Cell Demonstrations in Rail and Marine Applications at Ports (H2RAM) initiative. The locomotive will show the potential of... Read more →

Since July 2019, the purely battery-electric Mercedes-Benz eActros has proven its worth in extensive field testing at the company Logistik Schmitt. The eActros has travelled a total of around 50,000 kilometers in the Northern Black Forest to date, carrying more than 100,000 load units on around 5,000 trips. In doing... Read more →

Yanmar Holdings Co., Ltd. and its subsidiary Yanmar Power Technology Co., Ltd. have conducted a field demonstration test for a maritime fuel cell system in Oita, Japan. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has announced a strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to zero by the end of this century. With... Read more →

Loop Energy and Rheintal-Transporte announced an agreement for the development and supply of heavy-duty hydrogen-fuel-cell range-extension solutions for battery-electric trucks in Europe. As a part of the agreement, Rheintal is looking to use Loop’s eFlow fuel cell modules (earlier post) to expand driving range capabilities of battery-electric trucks to the... Read more →

Comercial vehicle manufacturer the TRATON Group will invest a total of €1.6 billion in research and development for e-mobility by 2025. An e-mobility investment of €1 billion had been planned originally over this period. At the same time, TRATON is scaling back investments in conventional drives for these to make... Read more →

The UK Government is awarding more than £54 million ($US$75 million) to three projects to advance the next generation of electric trucks and hydrogen buses. The 3 projects are: £31.9 million (US$44.3 million) to develop electric propulsion systems for heavy goods vehicles in Cwmbran, Wales. The EPIC project led by... Read more →

Insitu, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Boeing Company, announced new details about its latest efforts to advance hydrogen fuel-cell propulsion for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). In December 2020, Insitu completed the first flight of the ScanEagle3 UAV powered by an all-electric, hydrogen fueled, PEM fuel cell. The 30-minute flight confirmed... Read more →

Korea-based Doosan FuelCell has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Korea Offshore & Shipbuilding, a shipbuilding holding company of Hyundai Heavy Industries Group, for the joint development of solid oxide fuel cells for ships. Doosan will design and produce the SOFCs, and KSOE will focus on the integration of... Read more →

Toyoda Gosei Co., Ltd. received the Technology & Development Award from Toyota Motor Corporation for the development of high-pressure hydrogen tanks used on the new MIRAI, launched by Toyota in December 2020. The new MIRAI is equipped with three hydrogen tanks, one more than the previous model, to extend its... Read more →

In March 2020, in a tender launched by German operator Regionalverkehr Köln GmbH (RVK), Solaris Bus & Coach was selected to supply 15 Solaris Urbino 12 hydrogen buses. The first of the hydrogen vehicles has been delivered and is being tested in the RVK branch in Wermelskirchen in the Rheinisch-Bergisches... Read more →

TECO 2030 ASA plans to establish Norway’s first large-scale production of hydrogen-based fuel cells in Narvik in Northern Norway. (Earlier post.) We plan to establish a combined innovation center and factory in Narvik. The plant will be able to produce fuel cells with a capacity of more than one gigawatt... Read more →

The US Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy intends to issue three sustainable transportation technologies funding opportunity announcements (FOAs) in Spring 2021. These potential funding opportunities seek innovative research, development, demonstration, and deployment (RDD&D) in the pursuit of technologies that will help reduce greenhouse gas... Read more →

Ballard Power Systems and Canadian Pacific announced that CP will employ Ballard fuel cell modules for CP’s pioneering Hydrogen Locomotive Program. (Earlier post.) The modules will provide a total of 1.2 megawatts of electricity to power the locomotive. Through its Hydrogen Locomotive Program, CP will develop North America’s first hydrogen-powered... Read more →

Ballard Power Systems received follow-on purchase orders from Wrightbus, a leading bus OEM and Ballard partner headquartered in Northern Ireland, for a total of 50 fuel cell modules to power Fuel Cell Electric Buses (FCEBs) planned for deployment in a number of UK cities, including Birmingham, Aberdeen, London and Belfast.... Read more →

Skeleton Technologies, the largest European manufacturer of ultracapacitors, and Marubeni Corporation, one of Japan’s largest conglomerates with more than €50 billion of annual revenue, signed a strategic cooperation agreement to support commercial scale-up and customer acquisition for Skeleton’s new generation of ultracapacitors—called the SuperBattery—in the Asian automotive sector. The technology... Read more →

For 16 months, GTI and its partners have been designing and assembling fuel cell-electric terminal tractors in a project called Zero Emissions for California Ports (ZECAP) that will assess vehicle operation in a demanding, real-world cargo-handling application. (Earlier post.) Performance verification is nearing completion, and the first-of-a-kind pilot project is... Read more →

Advent Technologies Holdings signed a joint development agreement (CRADA) with the US Department of Energy’s (DOE), Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Under this CRADA, along with support from the DOE’s Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office (HFTO), Advent’s team... Read more →

Hyzon Motors Inc., a supplier of hydrogen fuel cell powered heavy vehicles (earlier post), plans to build the largest fuel cell membrane electrode assembly (MEA) production line for commercial vehicles in the United States at its new Hyzon Innovation Center located in Bolingbrook, Illinois, just outside of Chicago. HYZON has... Read more →