Truck & Off-Highway Engineering - April 2022 - 19

PROPULSION FEATURE
HITTING THE GAS ON
HYDROGEN
TECH
The Hyundai
Xcient FCEV
has proven its
commercial
viability
through more
than 1 million
km (620,000
miles) of driving
in real-world
conditions.
OEMs and global suppliers are still betting big on hydrogen propulsion as a
solution for decarbonizing the heavy-duty trucking industry.
by Matt Wolfe
W
hile not as in-vogue as BEVs and other electrified vehicles,
hydrogen propulsion systems have been in development
since the mid-20th century by a wide variety
of manufacturers for a multitude of applications.
Several OEMs had exhibited prototypes of hydrogen-powered light
vehicles, but none had reached production status until after the turn
of the new millennium. Honda was one of the first OEMs to offer a
hydrogen fuel-cell electric vehicle (FCEV) to retail customers in 2008
with the Clarity, which was available as a lease-only vehicle in Japan,
Europe and southern California.
Over the next decade, retail availability of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles
began to spread with companies like Hyundai and Toyota rolling
out their own FCEVs. As of 2020, there were more than 30,000
hydrogen-powered vehicles on the road globally. However, hydrogen
power has struggled to gain mainstream acceptance and use across
the transportation industry. A market sector where this has been especially
evident is in heavy-duty trucks and commercial vehicles.
Data from the 2020 survey shows that of all hydrogen-powered vehicles
currently registered globally, just 25% are a commercial or heavyduty
truck. The largest number of those are buses, with more than
5,000 currently in use. That's far more than light commercial vehicles
(LCVs) or any other type of truck, which combined account for just over
half that total. Despite this, there has been ongoing research and development
to advance the technology and efficiency of hydrogen fuel cells
as well as adapting existing internal combustion engine (ICE) technology
to utilize hydrogen as a fuel for heavy-duty applications.
TRUCK & OFF-HIGHWAY ENGINEERING
Hydrogen ICEs a mid-term solution
A recent SAE webinar headlined by presenters from
Cummins, FEV, Stanadyne and Toyota highlighted several
impressive technological breakthroughs in hydrogen
technology and their potential impact across the industry
for reduced fleet emissions while still providing reliable
service with similar uptime as modern diesel trucks.
Jim Nebergall, general manager of hydrogen engines
for Cummins, outlined the company's progress
on developing hydrogen-fueled ICEs installed in conventional
chassis with existing drivelines, as well as
hydrogen fuel cells for powering electric traction motors.
Nebergall reported that Cummins is currently
developing two hydrogen-fuel ICEs, a 6.7-liter and a
15-liter for commercial vehicles. These engines will
complement the company's BEV and FCEV technology
and could be in series production by the middle
of the decade.
These hydrogen ICEs are intended for difficult-toelectrify
applications: trucks with daily usage ranges of
250 miles (400 km) or more, usage in areas where the
ambient air quality is low, or high duty-cycle applications.
Cummins believes that an ICE is still best-suited
to these environments. Though FCEVs could eventually
provide a long-term solution to decarbonizing the
April 2022 19
HYUNDAI
Truck & Off-Highway Engineering - April 2022

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