Our first hydrogen-powered lorry is taking to the roads across Germany

Hydrogen is an indispensable source of energy when it comes to the logistics mobility revolution. The move towards replacing fossil fuels with hydrogen is a major opportunity for our industrial site and will most certainly guarantee our competitiveness in the future.

We are expanding our fleet with a state-of-the-art Hyundai XCIENT Fuel Cell hydrogen-powered lorry. The green liner makes two trips a day between Villingen and Switzerland. The use of hydrogen-powered lorries saves approximately 0.68kg / km of CO₂ compared to a similar diesel lorry. This is based on a planned annual usage of around 80,000 km – 54,400 kg of CO₂.

As of 2022, we are the first logistics provider to officially join the Baden-Württemberg Climate Alliance.

Vehicle details:

The XCIENT Fuel Cell is fitted with a 180 kW hydrogen fuel cell system with two 90 kW fuel cell stacks. The longevity of the fuel cell system and overall fuel economy of the vehicle have been developed to meet the requirements of commercial fleet customers.

The 350 kW electric motor with a maximum torque of 2,237 Nm allows for powerful engine performance, even during ascents and gradients in mountainous regions.

With 7 hydrogen tanks, the XCIENT Fuel Cell holds a combined storage capacity of around 31 kilograms of hydrogen along with a 72 kWh battery pack containing three high-performance batteries as an additional source of energy. The manufacturer specifies a maximum range of around 400 kilometres. The seven hydrogen tanks can be completely refilled in around eight to twenty minutes depending on the ambient temperature.

Thanks to its range and rapid refuelling, this fuel cell technology is the perfect solution for freight transport.

Infrastructure:

the main challenge of using carbon-neutral lorries is the lack of infrastructure for refuelling and producing green hydrogen in Baden-Württemberg. The vehicle can therefore only be used in conjunction with the refuelling infrastructure in Switzerland.

Thinking ahead, we submitted a funding application in 2021 with the aim of producing and refuelling green hydrogen at the Herdenen industrial estate in Villingen, which was unfortunately not granted.

Currently, it can be assumed that the industry will soon be in a position to produce carbon-neutral commercial vehicles. However, the infrastructure in Germany will delay its implementation due to a lack of hydrogen and electricity.

Together with a consortium of businesses and experts, as well as the city of Villingen-Schwenningen, we have made a new attempt to establish this infrastructure.

The aim is to conduct research regarding the production and usage feasibility of hydrogen at the Herdenen industrial estate to respond to the infrastructure needs of this heavily logistics-oriented region.

In the process, the potential for producing green electricity for electrolytic hydrogen production will be established. The initial steps towards implementing this together with the city of Villingen-Schwenningen will be taken as part of an introductory workshop and follow-up workshop.

More information about the BW Climate Alliance is available here.