Honda hydrogen fuel cell class 8 truck concept
Honda has been one of the longest running proponents of hydrogen fuel cell technology in the automotive industry. The first FCX prototypes debuted in the late 1990s and this year the company is launching its third low-volume production model based on the CR-V. But one market segment that Honda has never participated in with any sort of propulsion system is heavy duty trucks. That changes on May 20, as the automaker debuts a Peterbilt semi concept powered by the fuel cell modules Honda has co-developed and manufactures with General Motors.
Honda hydrogen fuel cell module
Honda is by no means the first to recognize the potential of hydrogen fuel cells in the heavy trucking market. Toyota has been collaborating with Kenworth for several years on development of fuel cell semis and most of the major truck manufacturers have development programs including Hyundai, Daimler Truck, Volvo Group and Traton. Nikola was established on this concept.
Most of the interest in fuel cells is focused on decarbonizing long-haul freight operations. While battery electric semis like those produced by Tesla and other truck makers work very well on short to medium range routes, the weight of batteries typically reduces the available payload and charging such large batteries requires very high power levels of 1 MW or more.
Fuel cell trucks can typically be refueled in about 10 minutes and can provide a range of 400 miles or more. They also generally have a similar weight to a diesel equivalent.
Honda hydrogen fuel cell class 8 truck concept
While the fundamentals of fuel cell technology, passing hydrogen and oxygen over plates coated in a catalyst to produce electricity and water is well understood, the challenge remains the supply of hydrogen as a fuel. Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the known universe and hydrogen filling stations are the exact opposite. There are currently 56 public hydrogen stations in the US, all in California. This is one of the main reasons that fuel cell light duty vehicles have largely lost out to battery electric.
Drivers need energy and they want to be able to get it anywhere. This is straightforward with a well developed liquid fueling infrastructure and at a bare minimum, plugs are everywhere. This isn’t the case with hydrogen. However, for trucking, especially on long-haul routes, the use case is more predictable. Installing stations along the major highway routes can eventually supply the needs of trucks with far fewer stations than consumers expect.
Honda has four target markets for its hydrogen fuel cells
This is why GM, Honda, Toyota and Hyundai are putting more focus on these alternative applications. Honda isn’t giving up on light duty fuel cell vehicles, but it has identified 3 other core applications, commercial vehicles, stationary power stations and construction equipment. Honda’s development partner GM is also working on military vehicles, trains, aircraft auxiliary power units and trucks.
Honda isn’t announcing a customer or development partner yet for its trucking use case, but even without badges the concept truck Honda is debuting at ACT Expo in Las Vegas is clearly a Peterbilt Model 579EV. Peterbilt is owned by Paccar which also owns Kenworth, the partner of Toyota.
The Peterbilt chassis has been equipped with 3 80kW fuel cell modules produced by Fuel Cell System Manufacturing, a GM-Honda joint venture in Michigan. The 240kW total output is fed by 700-bar high pressure compressed hydrogen tanks with 82-kg of storage capacity. There is also a 120-kWh lithium ion battery to store energy from regenerative braking and provide peak power for acceleration. All together, Honda claims a range of 400 miles at the 41-ton gross combined weight rating. The original 500-kW electric propulsion system of the Model 579EV has been retained with the fuel cells.
Neither batteries or fuel cells alone are expected to be able to full decarbonize the world’s ground transportation fleet. However, both likely have an important part to play in our future transportation ecosystem. For now, this Honda-powered truck is just a concept, but there is definite potential to harness growing amounts of renewable energy to produce hydrogen and use that as the medium to transport energy for many applications.
