NEWS / IN BRIEF
The company is offering current owners of
the 500ze the option to simply swap in the
H2-POD unit, with either a fixed hydrogen
tank or a cartridge system.
Faun Umwelttechnik in Germany recently
began series production of fuel cell powered
commercial vehicles, and expects to start
deliveries next year of Bluepower waste
collection vehicles and large road sweepers
with fuel cell-battery hybrid powertrains [FCB,
September 2020, p4].
Green Machines: www.greenmachines.com
Video of GM 500 H2: https://bit.ly/36rZ2Vu
EH fuel cell powering
DOK-ING vehicle
S wiss-based fuel cell developer EH
Group is collaborating with DOK-
ING in Croatia to trial the use of fuel
cells in specialised robotic vehicles.
DOK-ING builds specialised robotic vehicles
for applications such as underground mining,
military engineering, demining (mine clearance)
and firefighting. The company has previously
showcased its Tom-Tom light electric delivery
vehicle powered by a hydrogen fuel cell, and
worked with Anglo American Platinum to
trial a fuel cell powered dozer for underground
mining in South Africa. The company has now
recently deployed EH Group’s EH-31 fuel cell
in an electric vehicle pilot project.
EH Group designs and manufactures high
power density fuel cell technology for mobile
and stationary applications. Earlier this year
the company was awarded a Horizon 2020
grant to accelerate development of its low-cost
hydrogen fuel cell technology and bring it to
commercialisation [FCB, March 2020, p14].
EH Group Engineering AG: www.ehgroup.ch
DOK-ING: www.dok-ing.hr
Alstom order for first
Italian hydrogen trains
A lstom will supply six hydrogen
fuel cell powered trains, with
the option for eight more, to FNM
(Ferrovie Nord Milano), the main
transport and mobility group in the
northern Italian region of Lombardy.
The first train delivery is expected
before the end of 2023, in an order
worth a total of approximately €160
million.
The new trains will be based on Alstom’s
Coradia Stream regional train platform,
December 2020 Fuel Cells Bulletin
designed for the European market and already
being produced for Italy by Alstom’s main
Italian sites. The hydrogen powered Coradia
Stream for FNM will be equipped with the
same fuel cell propulsion technology that
was introduced in the Coradia iLint [FCB,
September 2016, p1 and News Feature in March
2017, and see also the next item]. The hydrogen
version of the Coradia Stream will match
the operational performance of diesel trains,
including their range.
The Coradia Stream trains for FNM will be
manufactured by Alstom in Italy, with project
development, most of the manufacturing and
certification performed its Savigliano site.
Alstom, Coradia iLint train: https://tinyurl.com/coradia-ilint
Ferrovie Nord Milano: www.ferrovienord.it [in Italian]
Cummins plans new
facility in Germany,
finalises Nproxx JV
U S-based Cummins is constructing
a new facility in Herten, Germany,
initially focusing on assembly of fuel
cell systems for Alstom’s hydrogen
powered trains. Cummins has
also completed its deal with ETC
enrichment technology company
to establish their joint venture for
hydrogen storage tanks, which will
continue as Nproxx.
Cummins is relocating its current facility
in nearby Gladbeck to Herten, to enable the
company – through its Hydrogenics unit [FCB,
October 2019, p10] – to produce a high volume
of fuel cell systems for European customers.
The new facility – part of a ‘hydrogen park’ on
an old mine site [see the H2Herten feature in
April 2013] – includes space for manufacturing
and R&D, with four testing stations, and
expansion is planned to support stack
refurbishment.
With an initial capacity of 10 MW per
annum, the Herten facility – expected to open
in July 2021 – will manufacture 1 MW of fuel
cell systems a month for Alstom’s Coradia iLint
trains [see also the item above], and provide
aftermarket support. Each fuel cell system will
include six power modules (stacks), cooling
system, piping, air blowers and air filters. The
company also owns a facility in Oevel, Belgium
which assembles and integrates PEM and
alkaline electrolysers.
Cummins has also completed on its previously
announced Nproxx joint venture, which will
provide customers with Type 4 hydrogen
pressure vessels for on-highway and rail
IN BRIEF
FCH JU Programme Review Report 2019
The newly published 2019 Programme Review
Report (PDF, https://tinyurl.com/fchju-prog-
rev-2019) of the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen
Joint Undertaking (FCH JU, www.fch.europa.
eu) summarises all activities supported by the
FCH2 JU during 2018. The report has been
compiled by the European Commission’s Joint
Research Centre (JRC, https://ec.europa.eu/
jrc). It pays particular attention to the added
value, effectiveness and techno-economic
efficiency of FCH2 JU projects, assigned to
six review panels under the two main pillars of
Transport and Energy, as well as support for
market uptake (cross-cutting activities such as
standards and consumer awareness).
ULEMCo HICE road sweeper in Aberdeen
In the UK, ULEMCo (www.ulemco.com)
has converted a Bucher Municipal (www.
buchermunicipal.com) road sweeper to dual-
fuel (diesel-hydrogen) operation for Aberdeen
City Council in Scotland. The road sweeper
can use hydrogen in both the primary internal
combustion engine and the auxiliary engine –
supplied by JCB (www.jcb.com) – which powers
ancillary equipment. The vehicle incorporates 6.6
kg of onboard hydrogen storage, more than four
times that of previous trucks, enabling the use of
a second engine to power the brushes etc. This
is the third hydrogen road sweeper in Aberdeen,
building on a previous project supported by
the Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV)
and Innovate UK within the Low Emission
Freight Trial. ULEMCo recently supplied dual-
fuel gritter trucks for Glasgow [October 2020, p5],
and also offers fuel cell range-extender conversions
for electric vans [September 2017, p4].
Aberdeen is also pioneering fuel cell electric
buses [e.g. FCB, September 2020, p3 and
November 2020, p2, and see the Feature in
November 2019], and hydrogen powered vans
and taxis [e.g. December 2017, p9].
Lancaster, CA is first hydrogen city in US
The City of Lancaster (www.cityoflancasterca.
org) in California, north of Los Angeles, is the
first city in the US to embrace hydrogen power,
and is looking to pair with a ‘smart’ city in Japan
that is likewise devoted to integrating hydrogen
into its power grid, fuel distribution, storage,
and usage. The city is already partnering with
SGH2 Energy Global to build a large-scale green
hydrogen facility, which will use the company’s
Solena Plasma Enhanced Gasification (SPEG)
technology to produce 11 tonnes/day of
hydrogen from recycled mixed paper waste
[FCB, June 2020, p9]. Other projects include
a gasification plant, and Hitachi Zosen Inova’s
$100 million anaerobic digestion plant which
generates renewable natural gas from organic
waste for conversion to clean hydrogen (www.
hz-inova.com).
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