Ford studies the feasibility of a hydrogen-powered Transit van to move away from fossil fuels

Ford is initiating a three-year hydrogen fuel cell trial to see if a hydrogen version of its E-Transit van could be viable, the automaker said Tuesday.

Ford will join British oil and gas multinational BP in a consortium that focuses on hydrogen and infrastructure trials.
The research will be funded by the UK's Advanced Propulsion Center (APC) and will see Ford design, develop and build a fleet of 8 hydrogen fuel cell powered Transit vans, featuring the latest technological advances, as part of the 22nd funding round of the PCA.

BP, Ocado, Cygnet Texkimp, Cambustion and Viritech will participate in the Ford-led project. The hydrogen fuel cell version of the Ford Transit van will be developed at a Ford plant in Dagenham, which will be reused in vehicle outfitting.

“ By bringing together manufacturers, vehicle operators and the supply chain, this project aims to establish a business case for the wider uptake of hydrogen light commercial vehicles ,” said the UK APC.

Ford, for his part, said, through British President Tim Slatter, these words reported by Reuters,

“Ford believes the primary application of fuel cells could be in its larger, heavier commercial vehicles to ensure they are emissions free while meeting the high daily energy demands demanded by our customers.”
“Ford has an unmatched history in the commercial vehicle industry with the indomitable Transit, and we're excited to explore new ways to make clean delivery an option for even our hardest working vans on the road,” noted Slatter.

Proponents of hydrogen fuel cell technology for commercial vehicles say hydrogen may be better suited for these zero-emissions vehicles, because EV batteries would be too heavy and charging would take time and tax grids.

Adoption of hydrogen for light commercial vehicles, however, currently faces some obstacles, including higher costs and low availability of green hydrogen – produced by electrolysis using renewable energy – and the lack of infrastructure for refueling of fuel. However, the hydrogen must be obtained somehow, so the problem moves upstream, on the type of energy that is used to produce the hydrogen. Furthermore, this gas is difficult to transport, so alternatives such as ammonia, biofuels and e-fuels are also being evaluated.

The article Ford studies the feasibility of a hydrogen-powered Transit van to ditch fossil fuels comes from Economic Scenarios .

This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/177154-2/ on Wed, 10 May 2023 07:00:34 +0000.