Hydrogen to power commercial vehicles is a hot topic these days. There seems to be something in the news about it every day. And hydrogen just so happens to be the fuel of choice for fuel cells to power vehicles.
Interestingly, fuel cells are not new; they have been around for more than 70 years. More recently — the last 20 years — they have been used in buses and for the last 10 years there has been growing use of them in cars.
However, fuel cells in trucks is very new. But given all the announcements, pronouncements and information floating around about hydrogen fuel cells in Class 8 trucks, NACFE decided to try to sort through the “noise” to provide some guidance to the industry as a whole.
We recently published a Guidance Report, Making Sense of Heavy-Duty Hydrogen Fuel Cell Tractors.
As a result of our research, we developed five major findings:
- Hydrogen fuel cell trucks are just starting to see real-world use and their adoption is being driven by regional or national considerations that are much bigger than what exists for trucking fleets.
- Battery electric trucks should be the baseline for hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle (HFCEV) comparisons, rather than any internal combustion engine alternative.
- As for all alternatives, fleets should optimize the specifications of HFCEVs for the job they should perform while expecting that the trade cycles will lengthen.
- The future acceleration of HFCEVs is likely not about the vehicles or the fueling but more about the creation and distribution of the hydrogen itself.
- Finally, the potential for autonomous fuel cell trucks to operate 24 hours a day adds significant opportunity for making sense of capital and operational investment in hydrogen.
While we started working on this Guidance Report to evaluate the viability of commercial hydrogen fuel cell trucks, one big takeaway is that the topic is much bigger than trucks. Trucking is not the industry that will help fuel cells scale; other industries and utilities will have to participate for that to happen. We liken this to dominoes that need to fall into place before we can accurately predict the future of fuel cell vehicles.
We will continue to watch — and comment on — developments in the hydrogen fuel cell space as well as adding to our work on battery electric trucks as we work through the messy middle to an all-electric future.
At this time of year, most people make New Year’s resolutions — some of which they actually keep.
But I’m not going to do that. Instead, I am going to offer my New Year’s wish list. My actual list is long, so I am just going to give you the abbreviated version of what I would like to see for the economy in general, and more specifically, the trucking industry.
Like most people, the first thing I wish for is a dramatic reduction in the number of COVID-19 cases and a return to a more normal way of living and doing business. I don't think that after all the changes wrought by the pandemic that the economy is going to slip right back into its pre-pandemic state. What I do hope is that we will take some of the lessons learned during the pandemic and implement what worked on a longer-term basis. We have discovered that business relationships can survive, and even thrive, without in-person meetings, and that technology can be leveraged to make business more efficient. Going forward we need to incorporate all the things that were good into the way we did business before. Let’s combine some of the old with the new to be even stronger than before.
I also hope people will continue to hold truck drivers in the high esteem they did throughout the pandemic when they realized the vital role the trucking industry in general and truck drivers in particular play in getting them the goods they both need and want. It was truckers who kept shelves stocked with toilet paper, disinfectant spray, PPE, and other medical suppliers. I hope people remember how much they counted on those truckers and continue to hold them in high regard once we are past the pandemic.
Next, I want to see something finally done about the condition of our nation’s infrastructure. The American Society of Civil Engineers has given the U.S. infrastructure a D+ grade. I don’t know about all of you, but when I was a kid, if I brought home a D+ I was in serious trouble. We need to stop borrowing funds from the Highway Trust Fund and use the money for its intended purpose and that is to keep our roads, bridges and tunnels in good condition.
I also hope the legislators and regulators will seek more input from the people most affected by and regulations they promulgate. Whether those regs are around electronic logging, hours of service, emissions, etc., getting input and feedback from the people who have to live by the new rules just makes sense to me. I am not naïve enough to think trucking is going to get 100% of what it wants when it comes to regulatory changes, but having our voices heard on a more consistent basis should hopefully result in regulations that make sense in the real world, which is the one fleets operate in.
I could go on... But I’ll be happy if just these four wishes eventually come true.
Patrick Gaskins, senior vice president of Corcentric Fleet Solutions, oversees both sales and operations for Corcentric’s fleet offerings. Over the past 10 years, Gaskins has grown the fleet services area of Corcentric’s business by implementing a best-in-class asset management database and a data-driven approach to providing Corcentric clients with visibility into all areas of their fleet spend. He joined Corcentric in 2010, bringing over 30 years of experience as a financial services professional in the transportation industry. Gaskins leads a team of industry experts who work with a supply base of over 160 manufacturers to help the country’s largest fleets manage all aspects of their fleet operations and fleet related spend. Gakins earned his BBA in Finance from the University of Miami, FL, and his CTP certification from the National Private Truck Council.
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December 30, 2020 at 05:15PM
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Deep dive into heavy-duty hydrogen fuel cell tractors - Fleet Owner
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