Hydrogen fuel cell pioneer Hyundai says it has won two huge orders with Chinese companies – to supply 4000 hydrogen trucks in the next four years.
It has signed a memorandum of understanding with three Shanghai-based energy companies to supply 3000 hydrogen FCEVs – setting up a “business cluster” to cover hydrogen production, charging infrastructure and truck sales and lease programmes.
Another MOU signed with two companies in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei economic zone, calls for the supply of another 1000 hydrogen trucks.
China is, as Hyundai Motor commercial vehicle business executive VP Lee In-Cheol says, “one of the hydrogen markets with the most potential.”
In July, the Korean truckmaker delivered the first 10 of its XCIENT FCEV trucks to Switzerland – the start of an order for 1600 trucks to be supplied in the next four years.
The Hyundai order is just one announcement in a seeming frenzy of fuel cell electric and battery-electric truck news – with truckmaking arch-rivals Daimler Truck and Volvo Group reporting that they have now finalised their previously-announced JV to build fuel cells for use in heavy-duty trucks…
And with enginemaking giant Cummins announcing that it’s teaming up with Navistar International to develop a heavy-duty hydrogen fuel cell truck for the North American market.
Bosch says it will start production of hydrogen fuel cell powertrains between 2022 and 2023, focusing initially on trucks.
Rising superpower in the truckmaking world, TRATON, has signed a JV with Hino Motors to develop battery electric vehicles and FCEVs.
And then there’s the news that Volvo Trucks will have electric versions of its complete heavy-duty truck range ready for European orders by the end of 2021 – with volume production starting in 2022.
Remarkably, each of these FCEV and etruck announcements came within a one-month period – a telltale sign of the industry’s current excitement about zero emissions trucks.
The Cummins/Navistar project, which has won $US7million worth of US Government funding, will see a Cummins hydrogen fuel cell electric powertrain integrated into an International RH Series tractor unit.
Darren Gosbee, Navistar’s VP engineering, says: “Hydrogen offers great opportunity in the commercial vehicle sector….”
Cummins VP and new power president Amy Davis says the company is excited to work together with Navistar “to lower costs and make hydrogen-powered vehicles more accessible for fleets to adopt.”
Martin Daum, Daimler Truck chairman of the board of management, says that “the hydrogen-based fuel-cell is a key technology for enabling CO2-neutral transportation in the future.”
Volvo Group president and CEO Martin Lundstedt says: “In the future, the world will be powered by a combination of battery-electric and fuel-cell electric vehicles, along with other renewable fuels, to some extent. The formation of our fuel-cell joint venture is an important step in shaping a world we want to live in.”
Matthias Gründler – CEO at TRATON Group, says: “TRATON’s mission is to carefully balance the interests of People, Planet and Performance. This new joint venture with our strong partner Hino is the next important step in electrification, pushing our mission further ahead.”
Gründler reiterated TRATON’s intention to invest 1 billion Euros on electrification in the next four years.
Volvo Trucks is now running tests of the electric heavy-duty Volvo FH, Volvo FM and Volvo FMX trucks to be launched in Europe – targeted at regional transport and urban construction operations. They have GCMs of up to 44 tonnes and offer a range of up to 300kms. 
Volvo’s vision is to be selling heavy-duty battery-electric and hydrogen FCEV trucks with a longer range – suitable for long-haul operations – in the second half of this decade. Its objective is for its entire product range to be fossil-free by 2040.