2024-02-27
The February issue of the Alternative Power Report produced by Power Systems Research contains articles on China battery production and Chinese EV market share gains in Thailand. There’s also news about CATL’s wind power project and several articles about EV heavy truck development.
2024-01-23
General Motors and mining and construction equipment giant Komatsu plan to jointly design and validate the hydrogen fuel cell technology for the 930E electric drive mining truck. GM has been conducting hydrogen fuel cell research and product development for more than 50 years and has developed platforms for both lithium-ion batteries and hydrogen fuel cells.
Mining trucks typically operate at a single mine throughout their life, a situation that simplifies the challenge of rolling out hydrogen refueling stations. GM and Komatsu plan to test the prototype HYDROTEC-powered mining vehicle in the mid-2020s at Komatsu’s Arizona Proving Grounds research and development facility. The prototype mining truck will be powered by more than 2 megawatts of HYDROTEC power cubes.
2024-01-19
Research by IDTech predicts that by 2044, hydrogen fuel cell cars will represent only about 4% of the total zero-emission passenger vehicles market. While the research predicts that hydrogen fuel cell cars would be a “very small portion” of the car market, IDTech also forecasted that about one fifth of zero-emission trucks would run on hydrogen.
Greater upfront costs for FCEVs over both combustion engine vehicles and BEVs, and increasing running costs makes an fuel-cell car a hard sell for consumers. IDTech cited lack of hydrogen refueling as a significant factor holding back FCEV
2024-01-18
General Motors and mining and construction equipment giant Komatsu plan to jointly design and validate the hydrogen fuel cell technology for the 930E electric drive mining truck. GM has been conducting hydrogen fuel cell research and product development for more than 50 years and has developed platforms for both lithium-ion batteries and hydrogen fuel cells.
2023-11-16
Early this summer, scientists in northern France discovered what has the potential to be a huge white hydrogen deposit, (white hydrogen is naturally occurring H2). Not all forms of the hydrogen are equally clean, and this depends on how hydrogen is produced. Brown, black and grey H2, for instance, are all produced using processes with fossil fuels, such as coal or natural gas and are therefore not environmentally friendly.
Depending on how this H2 is extracted, it could prove to be one of the cheapest and cleanest forms of hydrogen. The natural H2 deposit was found in July 2023 by Philippe de Donato and Jacques Pironon, scientists at the Université de Lorraine.
2023-09-21
Eurac Research scientists have analyzed data from 21 fuel cell electric buses (FCEB) and battery electric buses (BEB) in Italy, comparing efficiency, consumption, temperature sensitivity, distances, and cost, and they discovered that Hydrogen buses’ tank-to-wheel (TTW) efficiency is lower than battery electric buses, indicating higher consumption variation for BEBs.
Zepp’s goal is to speed up the energy transition and foster reliance in the labor market with support from the Ministries of Economic Affairs and Climate and Social Affairs and Employment, and the municipalities in the Dutch Greater Rijnmond area.
2023-09-16
California is essentially the only state in the USA that has any hydrogen cars to speak of, but even in that state, there are only about 12,000 of them on the roads. Despite this, the state intends to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars per year (or more) to build a refueling network for those vehicles.
California lawmakers are now debating how much money to pour into a fueling station network for hydrogen cars.
A lobbying group for suppliers and supporters of H2 includes Shell, Chevron and Toyota is aiming for a designated 30% of the Clean Transportation Program money, which would represent about $300 million spent over the next 10 years.
2023-09-15
With regards to zero-emission medium and heavy vehicles, we have heard during the past few years that battery electric commercial trucks will ultimately replace the diesel-powered internal combustion engine for commercial trucks. At some point in the future this might be true for short and regional haul freight carriers but what about the long-haul heavy truck segment?
Currently, the lack of charging infrastructure, range anxiety and the extreme weights associated with the batteries will be a significant deterrent to mass adoption of long-haul battery electric trucks. However, hydrogen fuel cell trucks for long-haul applications appear to be a viable option in this segment. Even though fuel cell trucks currently have a greater range and lighter weight than battery electric trucks, they have the same problem as electric trucks due to a lack of a power infrastructure.
2023-08-21
XCMG Group and Toyota have signed a strategic cooperation agreement in the field of hydrogen energy. The companies will build a complete hydrogen energy machine and core component industry base centered around Xuzhou, which will drive development of the hydrogen energy industry in Xuzhou.
XCMG Group expects this contract to aid both parties to collaborate and innovate in cutting-edge technology research and development applications such as hydrogen vehicles, fuel cells, and core components.
Using hydrogen energy to change the future is the goal of Toyota and XCMG. The foundation for the development of Xuzhou’s green and low-carbon energy industry is solid.
Source: D1CM Read The Article
PSR Analysis: XCMG Group and Toyota have strong complementary prospects, and huge potential for cooperation and development. Working together, they will accelerate the progress of off-road machinery from traditional fuels to electrification and finally to fuel cells.
Toyota has always been a major supporter of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles as an alternative to electric vehicles. Toyota will focus on selling hydrogen powered trucks and cars in Europe and China. In 2022, Toyota sold over 3,900 fuel cell vehicles, while its global sales are about 9.5 million units.
Toyota hopes to sell 200,000 hydrogen powered vehicles by 2030. The products of XCMG Group include five pillar industries: Construction Machinery, Lifting Machinery, Piling Machinery, Concrete Machinery, and Road Machinery, as well as strategic new industries such as Mining Machinery, Aerial Work Platforms, Environmental Industry, Agricultural Machinery, Port Machinery, and Rescue Support Equipment. It has over 60 enterprises under its jurisdiction, including mainframe, trade services, and new business models. This cooperation could have a major impact on both parties. PSR
Jack Hao is Senior Research Manager – China for Power Systems Research
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