Ballard Power Systems and Quantron AG have delivered their first fuel cell electric vehicles.
These include the 44-ton QUANTRON QHM FCEV heavy truck – the current European Community champion with 54 kg of hydrogen at 700 bar – and the QUANTRON QLI FCEV light truck.
Both zero-emission vehicles have a much longer range and shorter refueling times than battery-electric models, the parties behind the new models claim.
According to a press release issued by the two companies, all fuel cell components of the QUANTRON QHM FCEV and QLI FCEV are fully integrated, which means that “there is no need to make any compromises in terms of trailer length and payload, as well as allowing the construction of standard construction bodies as in their diesel counterparts.” .
Commenting on this news, Tim Suter, Q-Light Team Leader and Corporate Project Manager, said:
“We are extremely proud to have achieved this important milestone in collaboration with Ballard. The collaboration between the engineering teams in Augsburg (Bavaria) and Vancouver (Canada) was exceptional. We shortened the overall process from feasibility study to delivery to 18 months, getting the QUANTRON QLI FCEV on the road and into customers’ hands in record time. This resulted in a superior product, where the fuel cell system for the individual vehicle was optimized based on customer use cases.”
Randy McEwan, CEO of Ballard Power Systems, added:
“We are excited to see the partnership with QUANTRON expand into the light vehicle sector and increase the deployment of fuel cells in the important last-mile transportation market. By combining the technical strengths and market expertise of both QUANTRON and Ballard, our teams are committed to accelerating the adoption of hydrogen mobility in the freight sector by bringing High-performance fuel cell engines to the market.
A European customer has already taken delivery of the first five units, with one unit having covered 15,000 kilometres in daily operation during a customer trial.
