Paccar, one of the world’s largest heavy-duty truck makers, is teaming with Toyota on clean hydrogen trucks to curb air pollution.
The twin ports in Los Angeles and Long Beach are cited by environmental authorities as some of the worst sources for the region’s endemic air pollution, a problem regulators aim to address with a planned phase-out of the 16,000 smoke-spewing diesel trucks that service the shipping centers.
What sort of clean technology will replace them is far from certain, but Paccar, one of the world’s largest heavy-duty truck manufacturers, is teaming with Toyota to test one promising alternative.
At this month’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the partners unveiled the first of 10 prototype trucks that will rely on hydrogen fuel cells. That puts the partners in competition with players like Tesla that are focusing on battery-powered semis.
„We believe that carrying energy in the form of hydrogen for heavy-duty Class 8 trucks makes more sense than carrying it in batteries“ because the trucks can be refilled faster and offer longer range, said Brian Lindgren, director of research and development for Paccar subsidiary Kenworth.
While hydrogen could be used as a direct replacement for fossil fuels in internal combustion engines, most efforts focus on using it to power fuel cells. That technology — which was conceived back in the 1850s — forces hydrogen gas through a catalyst-coated membrane where it bonds with oxygen from the air. The process creates water vapor and a stream of electrons that can power the same electric motors that are found in a battery-electric vehicle. That’s why some experts refer to fuel cells as „refillable batteries.
