Hyundai, Nikola and Toyota Start to Build the Hydrogen Highway
Hyundai Motor Co. has an ambitious plan to wean the global trucking industry from fossil fuels by creating green commercial trucks with the same power and range as their diesel counterparts.
The South Korean automaker unveiled the cornerstone of its strategy in Atlanta last month by showing the concept of its planned HDC-6 Neptune hydrogen fuel cell truck. Styled like a 1930s Art Deco steam locomotive, the truck could be plying U.S. highways by 2024.
Human-caused climate change dictates the end of diesel trucks, said Sae Hoon Kim, vice president of Hyundai’s fuel cell center.
This is about survival, and we don’t have that much time to make this move,” Kim told Trucks.com.
PRODUCTION PLANS
Hyundai plans to build a production capacity of 500,000 fuel cell systems for passenger and commercial vehicles by 2030 at a cost of about $6.4 billion.
While fossil fuel will be the primary energy choice for both passenger cars and commercial vehicles in the U.S. for years to come, other nations are already working to decarbonize transport.
CHOOSING HYDROGEN
Other truck and car companies also see hydrogen as a fuel of choice for transport.
Nikola Motor Co., a Phoenix startup, plans highway testing of its hydrogen fuel cell semi-tractor next year. Budweiser brewer Anheuser-Busch will test Nikola trucks in its fleet. The beer company said it plans to buy up to 800 of the hydrogen fuel cell models for its fleet of long-haul delivery vehicles.
Nikola also wants to remove risk from its customers. It will combine the major expenses of truck ownership and operation into a single monthly lease payment. But that deal requires a million-mile lease at the cost of 95 cents per mile, or $950,000 for the life of the contract – typically seven years.
Toyota Motor Corp., which makes the Mirai hydrogen fuel cell passenger car, also is developing commercial vehicles. It is providing fuel cell electric powertrains for a project with truck builder Kenworth. They are building 10 zero-emission Class 8 trucks. The project is part of a $41 million Zero and Near-Zero Emissions Freight Facilities grant from the California Air Resources Board. The vehicles will be used at the Port of Los Angeles/Port of Long Beach complex, primarily moving containers to and from California’s Inland Empire region about 70 miles away. It is also testing a hydrogen fuel cell yard truck to move shipping containers within the Port of Los Angeles.
Even parcel giant UPS is dabbling in the field. It is developing a small fleet of hydrogen fuel cell delivery trucks. It wants 40 percent of the fuel it uses to come from sources other than conventional gasoline and diesel by 2025.
