New Energies, new possibilities

Ballard Power Systems announced that its proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell technology and products have now powered Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (FCEVs) in commercial heavy- and medium-duty motive applications for acumulative total of more than 50 million kilometers on roads around the globe, an increase of more than 5-times since 2017.

Ballard PEM fuel cell technology and products—with the 8th generation power module launched in 2019—have been integrated for many years into FCEVs to provide zero-emission power for vehicle propulsion in 15 countries around the world. This includes approximately 1,000 Fuel Cell Electric Buses (FCEBs) and 2,200 commercial trucks.

Approximately 70% of the more than 50 million kilometers has been achieved in FCEVs deployed in China, with the remaining vehicles deployed in Europe and North America.

For the first half of 2020, FCEVs monitored by Ballard delivered fuel cell uptime of approximately 98%. Ballard’s unmatched field experience—through a wide range of duty cycles, climate and road conditions—has been leveraged through an effective feedback loop into product design and development efforts, resulting in the fuel cell industry’s highest performance products designed for Heavy- and Medium-Duty Motive applications.

Some of the FCEBs that operated over 8-years in the field exceeded 38,000 hours of revenue service with no major fuel cell maintenance requirements.

https://www.greencarcongress.com/2020/08/20200805-ballard.html

After the all-electric Model S sedan paved the way for battery-powered SUVs and crossovers, it was only a matter of time before pickup trucks would come along to share the spotlight. Rivian’s R1T hit the ground running for a while, but Tesla’s Cybertruck unveil officially started the race for worksite hauling and adventure with zero emissions. Nikola Motors later followed up with its own truck – the Badger – powered with hydrogen fuel cells.

How all of these vehicles will do with consumers is the question on everyone’s mind now, and the team at PartCatalog.com has put together some Twitter data to help predict the answer.

Using Twitter’s geospatial metadata made available to developers and Google’s Trends software, PartCatalog created a color-coded map showing the most anticipated electric truck in the US in a state-by-state breakdown. Over 90,000 tweets were tracked for the project, using hashtags and models mentioned as data drivers. Specifically, tagged location, mentioned location, and profile location formed the basis of the state determinations.

The results were quite interesting.

Altogether, Rivian’s R1T was the top-mentioned zero-emissions pickup in 17 states, Tesla’s Cybertruck in 15 states, and Nikola’s Badger in 13 states. Bollinger’s B2 made a splash with 4 states, and Lordstown’s Endeavor picked off 1 state. The results look to be a bit regionalized with Rivian drawing chatter in the north-central and northeastern parts of the US, Nikola in the south and southwest, and Tesla making headway right through the middle on a diagonal course.

These results could be based on a variety of reasons aside from consumer preferences for vehicle styling and capabilities. Company location is another factor to consider. For instance, the Lordstown Endurance was most mentioned in Ohio only, which is also the state where the company is headquartered. Tesla’s popularity in California comes as no surprise given it’s the auto maker’s home state and has become a world leader in all-electric vehicles. However, it’s interesting that Nikola’s Badger is most discussed in Texas, given Tesla’s recent Cybertruck factory competition, which ended in a win for the Lone Star state.

(Credit: Trevor Milton/Twitter)

Credit: Rivian

(Credit: Tesla Cybertruck/Instagram, Ford)

Nikola’s home base is now in Arizona, likely playing a role in its data findings there, but its popularity has also reached upwards to Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. The oil industry in Pennsylvania could play a role here, being that Nikola’s primary customer focus is the trucking industry and converting its diesel-focused world to cleaner fuel cells. Massachusetts, though, doesn’t have the same expectation given its environmental efforts overall.

The conversation surrounding electric pickup trucks is likely to become even more diverse as more prominent players get into the game. As more details about Ford’s battery-powered F-150 are revealed, some, if not all, of the other truck makers may see their popularity have more competition. The connection between Rivian and Ford, namely the $500 million investment made into the nascent manufacturer that was recently semi-canceled, may also have some interesting playout.

Of course, having at least one electric truck delivered to customers will be the most relevant measure of their opinions, and next year looks to be the earliest we’ll see that happen.

https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-rivian-nikola-market-share-map/

August 3, 2020 (Investorideas.com Newswire) Fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) and battery electric vehicles (BEVs) are considered by the most, as two competing technologies. Although both technologies power an electric motor, they have different properties and each of them is well suited for some uses more than others.

BEVs market is increasing, with the major automotive companies, like BMW, and Mercedes, starting to introduce into the market an increasing number of electric battery vehicles, in parallel to the main BEVs company like Tesla, and Toyota. FCEVs on the other hand are still at the demonstration stage.

In April 2019 Daimler stepped back from the development of the GLC F-Cell, after many years of investigation of fuel cells technologies. Besides this decision, Daimler did not completely abandon the hydrogen powertrain, but mostly shifted its focus to a different application. In fact, a collaboration with Volvo to develop fuel cell heavy-duty vehicles will possibly begin in September 2020, which will define a new chapter for the hydrogen technologies.

Although the FCEVs have not reached large scale production, the long-term plan adopted by several countries is to implement the adoption of FCEVs among other applications. The idea is to develop a hydrogen network, which aims the adoption of hydrogen as an energy carrier in different sectors. In other words, the development of the so-called hydrogen economy.

As analyzed in the new IDTechEx report, "The Hydrogen Economy, Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Production Methods", many countries are already involved in the development of a hydrogen economy. The necessity of the hydrogen economy is driven by the requirement of reducing pollutant emissions while achieving a higher energy independence. Within the different sectors addressed by hydrogen economies, the automotive sector is one of the first to be developed. Countries like Germany and Japan have already installed a considerable number of hydrogen refueling stations (HRS), besides promoting the adoption of hydrogen technologies.

Read more about production development at Semcon.

The main reason behind this choice is to reduce the cost of hydrogen. A large-scale adoption of FCEVs, and hydrogen, would facilitate the adoption of hydrogen and related applications.

As explained in the hydrogen economy report released by IDTechEx, many countries are involved in this process and is likely that others will join to boost the adoption of green resources and fulfilling the Paris Agreement adopted by several nations.

https://www.investorideas.com/news/2020/fuel-cell/08031Electric-Vehicles.asp

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- On July 28, GAC Group offered the first glimpse of its first hydrogen fuel cell vehicle model, the Aion LX Fuel Cell, at the GAC Tech Day 2020.

Built on the GEP (GAC Electric Platform) 2.0, the newly-unveiled fuel cell vehicle shares a similar look to that of the Aion LX. With respect to its powertrain solution, the FCV gets a maximum output of over 150kW through the combined effort of the fuel cell system and the power battery system. The permanent magnet motor it adopts is able to deliver a peak torque of 350 N·m. Filled up with hydrogen, the vehicle will have a NEDC-rated range of over 650km.

(Aion LX Fuel Cell)

According to Feng Xingya, president of GAC Group, the automaker will kick off this year the pilot operation of its hydrogen vehicles.

Meanwhile, GAC Group also introduced the GPMA (GAC global platform modular architecture) and the GEP platforms, which respectively take aim at traditional fuel-burning and pure electric vehicles. The GPMA fits the development of sedan, SUV, MPV, PHEV and HEV models and is compatible with powertrains like conventional engines, PHEV and HEV power systems.

The BEV-focused GEP 2.0 uses the high-energy-density cells, the highly integrated module-free architecture and the high-precision BMS to create a battery system with high range and low electricity consumption, said GAC Group. Besides, the high-voltage platform and high-power charging technology are applied to solve consumer's pain point over charging issue.

GAC Group also showcased 3D structural graphene (3DG) production technology at the Tech Day. The company noted that it started researching the scale production of graphene as early as 2014, and has to-day obtained the 3DG manufacturing technology with independent intellectual property rights.

By virtue of graphene's outstanding electric conductivity and the special 3D structure, GAC has developed a super-fast-charging battery which can be charged to 80% of its capacity within 8 minutes and achieve 200-300km range on a 10-minute charge, said the company (photo source: GAC Group's WeChat account).

autonews.gasgoo.com/china_news/70017386.html

Who is this rival?

Hyundai is done watching Tesla dominate the battery electric vehicle market. Although the South Korean automaker already sells the popular Hyundai Kona EV, and there are more EVs in development, Hyundai knows that more investment in EVs is required. Several years ago, Hyundai was one of the first major automakers to work on hydrogen cars, but the situation has now changed. It's not that hydrogen fuel cell vehicles won't gain in popularity, but battery electrics are the dominant propulsion system right now and for the foreseeable future. Also, Hyundai doesn't like seeing shiny new Teslas driving around its home country.

Reuters reports Hyundai has a new plan to introduce not one but two production lines dedicated solely to EVs. The first one is scheduled to begin operations next year while the other will go online in 2024.

Hyundai Motor Company, which includes its namesake Hyundai division along with Kia and Genesis, has also been reportedly holding talks with fellow South Korean companies Samsung, LG, and SK Group, all of whom design and manufacturer batteries. These battery supplier discussions are critical because Hyundai needs to quickly secure enough batteries as the EV battle enters a new phase. There's simply not enough batteries at the moment and automakers are competing to sign battery supplier contracts. What Hyundai aims to do is work directly with those fellow domestic battery suppliers "to scale up" is electric vehicle production more efficiently.

Earlier this month, Hyundai executive chairman Euisun Chung announced a goal of selling 1 million battery EVs a year by 2025. It also hopes to achieve a global market share of more than 10 percent that year.

A lot needs to happen between now and then to achieve that. For example, Hyundai sold 86,434 battery EVs last year. Tesla sold 367,500 that year. But why has it taken this long for Hyundai to take Tesla seriously? One reason: the Tesla Model 3. Up until its 2017 launch, Tesla only built expensive luxury vehicles, but the Model 3 has now become the world's best-selling EV in history.

And now it's becoming even more popular in Hyundai's home turf, South Korea. "Hyundai did not expect Tesla to dominate the EV market so quickly," one person familiar with the company's thinking said.

https://carbuzz.com/news/teslas-next-major-rival-announces-big-plans