NEWS / IN BRIEF
Undertaking (FCH JU), brought together six
industry and institution partners [FCB, July
2016, p11]. The two-stack system was installed
in a trailer attached to a battery electric bus from
Dutch bus manufacturer VDL Bus & Coach, and
tested under real traffic conditions and in adverse
conditions. The overall stack performance was
maintained when it was exposed to detrimental
operating conditions such as fuel starvation,
elevated temperatures and over-pressure, emergency
shutdowns of the system during the development
period, and human error. The final report
confirmed that the stacks were in their specified
power range right to the end of the project.
ElringKlinger has been active in fuel cell
R&D for some 20 years, and supplies systems
and components. The company’s PEMFC
stacks are particularly suitable for long-range
operation in mobile applications such as buses,
cars, commercial vehicles and trucks. It offers
stacks for integration into customer systems with
an electrical output from 2 kW to 150 kW. Last
autumn it launched its NM12 automotive fuel
cell stack [October 2019, p10], and supplied
the 70 kW fuel cell system for the Austrian
Keytech4EV project [February 2020, p2].
Giantleap project, final report:
www.giantleap.eu/?p=386
ElringKlinger, Electromobility: www.elringklinger.de/en/
products-technologies/electromobility
Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking:
www.fch.europa.eu
Hyundai Construction
Equipment plans fuel
cell powered excavator
I
n South Korea, Hyundai Construction
Equipment is joining forces with
Hyundai Motor Group to develop what
it believes would be the world’s first
hydrogen fuel cell powered construction
equipment. The partners will start
development of the Hydrogen Fuel
Excavator this year, with the aim of mass
production and distribution in 2023.
Hyundai Construction Equipment – a
subsidiary of Hyundai Heavy Industries – signed
a Memorandum of Understanding regarding the
joint development of hydrogen fuel cell powered
construction equipment with Hyundai Motor
Group and its automotive components unit
Hyundai Mobis at its Mabuk Research Center in
Yongin, Gyeonggi Province. The three companies
will look to develop hydrogen-powered forklifts
and medium/large-capacity hydrogen-powered
excavators over the next few years.
According to the MOU, Hyundai Motor and
March 2020
Hyundai Mobis will design and manufacture
hydrogen PEM fuel cell systems, including power
packs, while Hyundai Construction Equipment
will design, manufacture, and evaluate the
performance of excavators and forklifts.
Given the rapidly rising global demand for
environmentally friendly equipment, hydrogenbased construction equipment is expected to
help Hyundai Construction Equipment compete
in the global construction market. Furthermore,
compared to lithium batteries, which have
been reported as suffering from structural issues
that limit attempts to increase battery capacity,
hydrogen fuel cells are much easier to expand
the total system capacity, making them a better
choice for large forklifts or excavators.
The partnership between Hyundai
Construction Equipment, which is represented
in more than 140 countries, and Hyundai
Motor, which has some of the most advanced
hydrogen fuel cell technology [see also pages 2
and 12, and the In Brief item on this page], is
expected to give the construction equipment
industry a boost in terms of creating a
hydrogen-based ecosystem. The collaboration
would also help Hyundai Construction
Equipment to secure a better position in
establishing global standards.
Hyundai Construction Equipment: www.hyundai-ce.com
Hyundai NEXO:
www.hyundai.com/worldwide/en/eco/nexo
BRP-Rotax unveils
fuel cell powered
snowmobile vehicle
A
ustrian company BRP-Rotax, which
manufactures drivetrains for
powersports equipment, is marking
its centennial year with the launch
of the Lynx HySnow, its first zeroemission snowmobile concept, with a
hydrogen fuel cell electric powertrain.
The company has also constructed
a hydrogen refueling station in the
Hinterstoder ski area, to support its
aim of decarbonising winter tourism.
The zero-emission snowmobile concept
vehicle is the result of extensive R&D at
Rotax, which is known for its compact internal
combustion engines for snowmobiles, go-karts,
offroad vehicles, small marine vessels and
aircraft. BRP-Rotax also worked with its project
partners to construct an integrated hydrogen
ecosystem and refueling station in Hinterstoder,
which supplies renewably produced hydrogen.
The Lynx HySnow is based on the Lynx
69 Ranger Alpine snowmobile, widely used
IN BRIEF
Hyundai Motor signs MOU with Yeosu
Gwangyang Port for fuel cell truck demo
Hyundai Motor Company and Yeosu
Gwangyang Port Authority (YGPA, www.
ygpa.or.kr/en) in South Korea are partnering
to commercialise hydrogen fuel cell electric
trucks for logistics transportation. The
companies have signed a Memorandum of
Understanding for the pilot project, which
includes the development and demonstration
of a hydrogen electric logistics truck, and
establishing a hydrogen refueling station to
boost hydrogen mobility and the hydrogen
economy at Gwangyang Port. Hyundai aims
to deploy two trucks with YGPA by 2023, and
10 more in 2024, with the hydrogen station
ready in 2022. The trucks will operate on the
320 km (200 mile) round-trip between the
port and the city of Busan.
The Hyundai Hydrogen Mobility joint
venture plans to deploy 1600 heavy-duty fuel
cell electric trucks in Switzerland by 2025 [see
page 12].
Proton Motor order from new customer
Proton Motor Power Systems (www.protonmotor.de/gb) has received an order from a
new customer in Europe, for a hydrogen fuel
cell system to be integrated into a mobility
related application. The order, worth more
than E500 000 (US$550 000), is scheduled
for delivery in May 2021.
Last autumn Proton Motor commissioned
its new fuel cell stack production line in
Germany, featuring a robot assembly plant
that should increase production capacity to
5000–10 000 fuel cell units per annum [FCB,
November 2019, p15, and see the feature in
May 2015].
Another 83 hydrogen stations worldwide
In 2019, 83 hydrogen refueling stations began
operation worldwide, according to the 12th
annual assessment of www.H2stations.org.
This comprises 36 new stations in Europe (22
in Germany), 38 in Asia (18 in South Korea,
11 in Japan), eight in North America, and one
in the Arabian region.
At the end of 2019, a total of 432 hydrogen
stations were in operation worldwide, 330
of them open to the public. The number of
public stations has more than quadrupled in
the past five years. A further 226 stations are
in the planning stage.
Europe had 177 stations at the end of the
year, 87 of them in Germany, and 26 in France
(mostly serving buses and delivery vehicles).
There are 178 stations in Asia, with 114 in
Japan and 33 in Korea; the 27 Chinese stations
are used almost exclusively for refueling buses
or truck fleets. In North America, 48 of the 74
stations are in California.
Fuel Cells Bulletin
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