Faurecia awarded CEC grant for H2 trucking pilot
Symbio, Faurecia and Michelin have been granted the California Energy Commission Award for hydrogen fuel cell truck development. This gives the partners the chance to develop and demonstrate a hydrogen-fuelled, regional-haul Class 8 truck.
The California Energy Commission (CEC) selected Symbio, Michelin, Faurecia along with GTI and other industry partners as major contributors to a state-supported hydrogen mobility project.
The ‘Symbio H2 Central Valley Express’ project, will be supported with $2 million from the CEC to develop and demonstrate a hydrogen fuel cell truck. The award should allow the partners to provide a zero-emission vehicle for “demanding” regional-haul operations. The vehicle should match the performance of a 15-litre diesel truck. The three partners plan to run the truck on a 400-mile route between the Inland Empire and Northern San Joaquin Valley Starting in the second half of 2023.
Jose-Vicente March, Zero Emission General Manager, Faurecia noted: “This special project showcases the strength of a unique ecosystem of partners with innovative technologies of which Faurecia is proud to be a part of, in a region that is leading the future of clean energy.” He went on to say that the partners appreciate the trust shown by the California Energy Commission “to enhance hydrogen technology solutions for heavy-duty mobility.”
The partners point out that Hydrogen is well suited to decarbonize heavy duty mobility since it enables a higher payload, a shorter refuelling time and a reduced total cost of ownership. This is particularly attractive for highly utilised commercial vehicles which need a longer driving range and faster refuelling time to maximize uptime.
In the awarded project, the Group FORVIA subsidiary Faurecia will bring its expertise in hydrogen storage systems by providing a complete hydrogen storage system with five 700 bar homologated tanks. For their part, Michelin will provide low-rolling resistance tires that combine safety, longevity, environmental protection and increased load capacity.
Symbio – which is a fuel cell joint venture between Faurecia and Michelin – will design, develop, and integrate a heavy-duty long-haul truck ready fuel cell powertrain powered by Symbio’s fuel cell stack technology – StackPack. This will be coupled with Faurecia’s hydrogen storage system and Michelin’s low resistance tires into a Freightliner Cascadia platform.
Faurecia has a number of large inititives underway, providing hydrogen tanks for Renault’s fuel cell vans, and the French company will supply the entire system including 10,000 tanks for the 1,600 H2 trucks that Hyundai plans to launch on the Swiss market.
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