Asko, Norway’s largest convenience goods wholesaler, and Scania will start testing trucks with hydrogen fuel cell electric powertrain.
The hydrogen gas will be produced locally, using solar cells. The trucks will run in distribution service with distances of almost 500 km (311 miles).
Asko is Norway’s largest wholesaler and supplies convenience goods to NorgeGruppen’s chain stores but it is also an important supplier to institutional households and service trading companies. Asko consists of 13 different regional companies and with a fleet of 600 trucks is one of Norway’s largest haulage companies.
Asko has the ambition to achieve a climate-neutral business, where distribution of goods will take place using trucks, which run on renewable fuels and in the longer term completely on electricity. Experience from pilot testing of vehicles and the plant, which will be built for local hydrogen gas production, will form the basis for Asko’s decision on a continued investment in hydrogen gas propulsion. The research project is partly financed by the Norwegian government.
Scania will supply three-axle distribution trucks with a gross weight of 27 tonnes, where the internal combustion engine in the powertrain will be replaced by an electric engine powered by electricity from fuel cells and hydrogen gas on board the vehicle. The rest of the powertrain is composed of the same standard components used in the hybrid trucks and buses that Scania already delivers. Three trucks will form part of the research project, with an option for one further vehicle.
Various internal combustion engines are part of Scania’s modular component range, which in hybrid drive are combined with powerful electrical propulsion. With sufficient electrical energy in batteries, the vehicle is fully electrically-powered for short periods.
Scania is participating in the Swedish research project concerning electric roads, where the power is transferred via overhead lines and wires or wirelessly via the roadway or from special charging stations. The aim is to remove limitations in battery capacity and thereby achieve longer distances in electrical propulsion.
Various technologies will be tested in the Swedish electric roads project and in collaboration with Asko, with the aim of becoming less restricted by the shortcomings posed by batteries.
