Volvo Trucks announced last week its fuel cell electric trucks powered by hydrogen had hit a milestone, having driven on public roads in Sweden in the Arctic Circle.
The OEM is marketing the equipment for its range and ability to operate in rural areas where battery charging might be limited. Last year, the company said the hydrogen vehicles have a range of 621 miles with a refueling time of less than 15 minutes.
“Trucks are operating seven days a week and in all types of weather,” Helena Alsiö, VP for powertrain product management at Volvo Trucks, said in the release, noting the testing conditions include ice, wind and snow.
Alsiö told Transport Dive in a statement that a major aspect of the test involved fuel cell system shutdown behavior in freezing conditions and cold-starts. She said the testing was conducted in March in the far north of Sweden, in Kiruna, for the extreme weather conditions.
The company has been developing the equipment for years, and when it highlighted the technology last year, it said customer pilots would begin in a few years.
Eventually, Volvo Trucks customers will be able to completely eliminate CO2 exhaust emissions from their trucks, Roger Alm, the OEM's president, said in the release.
Other OEMs are also competing to bring their technology to the market. Nikola said in March it had 100 orders for its hydrogen fuel cell electric trucks, and it plans to begin deliveries of its hydrogen fuel cell electric trucks in Q4 2023. Hyliion, meanwhile, aims to sell 30 renewable natural gas trucks by the end of the year.
Volvo Trucks plans to have its hydrogen-powered trucks commercially available in the second half of this decade.
