PowerCell participates in project for fuel cells for construction machinery
PowerCell will receive a total of 793,000 euros of the project funds. The company will contribute system and application integration suitable for harsh environments. Project milestones include the planned delivery of the systems between Q4 2025 and Q1 2026, with the first operational tests scheduled for autumn 2026.
“Our involvement in the H2MAC project underscores PowerCell’s commitment to pioneering hydrogen-electric solutions that address the complex needs of industries with high environmental impacts,” says Richard Berkling, CEO of PowerCell Group. “By applying our technology to real-world, demanding environments, we are demonstrating not only the robustness of our fuel cells but also their transformative potential to minimise local air pollution and decarbonise hard-to-abate sectors like construction and mining.”
The H2MAC project aims to extend hydrogen technology to high-demand off-road industries and to drive sustainability in all applications for mobile machinery and equipment. PowerCell anticipates that the knowledge gained from the project will drive future innovation and support a greener, more resilient heavy machinery sector.
The H2MAC project will develop and manufacture two hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles. These are an excavator and a crusher for the construction and mining sector. The machines selected for the project will demonstrate a scalable modular solution, as the excavator will consist of a 120 kW module, and the crusher will extend the concept by using two modules to increase the power to 240 kW. In the project’s final phase in 2027, the two machines will be tested simultaneously for 1,000 hours in a real environment, namely a quarry near the Spanish city of Cadiz.
In addition to PowerCell, German filtration specialist Mann + Hummel and Spanish machine manufacturer ZB Group, an expert in large shredding machines (see image above), are also involved in the project. PowerCell appears to be replacing Canadian fuel cell manufacturer Ballard in the project, which was named as a participant at the launch in January but no longer appears on the list.
PowerCell has already supplied its fuel cells for the prototype of an articulated dumper truck from Volvo CE. It is also the supplier of two hydrogen ferries and a hydrogen aeroplane.
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