FirstElement is opening the first ever commercial heavy-duty hydrogen refueling station, which opened to the public this week for tours and demonstrations, the first of its kind for the first time ever. The company claims that its hydrogen pumps can “fill” a truck’s hydrogen tanks into ten minutes per 80-kg fill, they are expected to fill 200 trucks hydrogen tanks per day.
On Tuesday, a ceremony to mark the station’s opening was held, and the ceremony was attended by state officials including Liane Randolph, chair of the California Air Resources Board (CARB) and Tyson Eckerle, clean transportation advisor for Gov. Gavin Newsom’s business development office. CARB and the California Energy Commission provided primary funding for the Oakland station.
At least 30 Hyundai Xcient semi trucks using the fueling station currently, as well as a number of Nikola hydrogen fuel-cell-powered trucks, according to the company. The Xcient trucks of Hyundai have a 400- to 500-mile range depending on load weight and onboard storage capacity of 68.6 kg of hydrogen at 700 bar of pressure. The 6×4 tractors have two 90 kW hydrogen stacks, a 72 kW/hour battery and a 350 kW motor.
Fuel cell tractors hold several advantages over similarly spec’d battery electric vehicles. At 500 miles of range, a fuel cell vehicle has an available payload of 52,000 pounds. A battery-electric vehicle with similar range requires an additional 9,000 pounds of powertrain weight, resulting in just a 43,000-pound payload capacity, says Jerome Gregeois, director of commercial vehicle development at the Hyundai America Technical Center.
However, FirstElement Fuel’s Port of Oakland station uses a cryopump to convert liquid hydrogen into cold, compressed hydrogen in a single stage. To retrofit the station with Bosch’s next-generation cryopump capable of dispensing 100 kg in 10 minutes, the company is partnering with Bosch Rexroth.
Dave Hull, regional vice-president, Bosch Rexroth says “Cold is like gold,”. “You’ve got all this cold energy. All my career I worked to get rid of heat. You can take that energy and run a whole station’s refrigerators for Rock Star energy drinks, or air conditioning. Bosh has a whole division of heat pumps and building technologies.”
Notably, hydrogen costs continue to rise. Added efficiency is essential to actual energy and cost savings, rather than a lifeline for the gas industry and tier 1 auto suppliers like Bosch.
According to rtvonline.com
