Hydrogen Truck; The 'Cleanest Heavy Vehicle in the World'

While many companies are working on electric trucks, a British company has introduced a hydrogen truck that can be called the cleanest heavy vehicle in the world. The British company ULEMCo has modified the fuel system in a Volvo FH16 truck, transforming it into a powerful hydrogen vehicle that produces power and water by burning hydrogen in its engine. This idea was previously implemented by BMW in a Series 7 vehicle. In this truck, hydrogen is used instead of diesel fuel. This heavy vehicle, which has zero emissions, can travel 300 kilometers on a single hydrogen refueling and produces 300 horsepower from its hydrogen engine. The truck stores 17 kilograms of liquid hydrogen per refueling. Hydrogen is one of the most abundant elements in nature, and burning hydrogen produces only water. However, the challenge lies in hydrogen storage. Hydrogen boils at minus 252 degrees Celsius at sea level pressure, making liquefying hydrogen very complex and costly; compression also requires very sophisticated technology. Hydrogen is also used in fuel cell vehicles, but instead of injecting hydrogen as fuel in internal combustion engines, a different method is used. In fuel cell vehicles, hydrogen is mixed with oxygen from the air, and the result of this reaction is the production of water and electricity. The electricity is used by an electric motor to propel the vehicle. Toyota has used this method in the construction of one of its latest research trucks. This truck uses two fuel cell units; Toyota had previously used this system in its fuel cell passenger model, the Toyota Mirai. The fuel cell batteries of this truck are 12 kilowatt-hours. In this product, the fuel cell units provide the necessary electricity for the truck's 670 horsepower electric motor. This electric motor has 1800 Newton meters of torque. With this power and torque, this truck can carry 36 tons of cargo. With each hydrogen refueling, this truck can travel 320 kilometers. Nevertheless, most experts believe that the future approach will lean towards electric trucks, and currently, Tesla is leading this new path. The Tesla electric truck, which can travel 850 kilometers on a single charge, is likely one of the biggest leaps in the trucking industry in the last 100 years. This truck can be considered the fastest production truck in the world, as it accelerates from 0 to 100 kilometers in just 5 seconds without a trailer; however, when a 36-ton trailer is attached, this acceleration decreases to about 20 seconds. This truck, named Semi, can travel on inclined roads at a speed of 100 kilometers per hour. This product can travel up to 800 kilometers on a single charge while maintaining the specified speed on highways. The range of the Semi as an electric truck is greater than that of diesel trucks with a single refueling. In another conceptual design, Shell has recently unveiled a truck with solar cells. Shell developed this truck with the help of Airflow. However, this truck uses electricity generated from solar cells located on the roof of the truck to power some components that operate on electricity. This method has reduced the fuel consumption of this truck. Combining this design with electric truck designs in the future could help increase their range.