Truck & Off-Highway Engineering - October 2022 - 12

TECHNICAL INNOVATIONS
HYDROGEN FUEL CELL
ZF, Freudenberg developing integrated 'Powerpack' fuel cell and e-drive
Although there were new commercial
vehicles on display at this year's IAA
Transportation staged at the Hanover
Messe Fairground in Germany, it was
electric drive systems that formed the
core of the show, with a range of new
systems on display across the halls of
the vast fairground.
While OEMs such as MAN, part of the
Traton Group, announced that the company
expected battery-electric vehicles
to dominate future electric CV production,
driveline system producer ZF announced
a partnership with fuel cell
and e-power systems developer
Freudenberg. " Long range will be limited
when you look at battery systems, "
Nils Martens, managing director/CCO
Freudenberg Battery and Fuel Cell, told
SAE Media. " Five hundred kilometers
(310 miles) is what you'll find when you
go to the different booths here at the
show. If you really want to go across
the U.S. - East Coast to West Coast -
with two drivers, or even here in
Europe, it's impossible to do that on a
single charge with a battery. "
Martens also raised the issue of refueling
times, " We're looking, with
higher compression, at less than 10
minutes of charging time. If you look
at a battery system, you're looking at
20, 30 minutes plus. We also see that
the total cost of ownership of a fuelcell
vehicle will definitely be superior
over a battery. "
The two companies plan to provide
" Powerpack " solutions. These will consist
of a fuel cell and driveline system,
with the two companies sharing components.
The first product of the partnership
will be an integrated fuel cell
and e-drive system for commercial vehicles.
Under the partnership agreement,
Freudenberg will offer a range of
e-power solutions in kit form and with
various power outputs, while ZF will
provide complete electric powertrains
with up to 360 kW. This is similar to
ZF's new CeTrax 2 electric central drive
for heavy-duty vehicles. A first prototype
of the system is expected in 2023.
12 October 2022
The first product of the ZFFreudenberg
partnership
will be an integrated fuel
cell and e-drive system for
commercial vehicles.
A driving factor for the fuel-cellbased
system is the program to reduce
CO2
emissions in Europe from heavy
commercial vehicles, effective from
2025. From that year average CO2
emissions
must be reduced by 15% compared
with the average for 2019/20. The
reduction will become more stringent in
2030 when it is increased to 30%. While
the 2025 target can probably be met by
using battery-electric distribution vehicles,
the 2030 target will be more
challenging. The rapid refueling offered
by fuel-cell vehicles means that longdistance
trucks powered by such systems
would make a notable contribution
towards this reduction.
" We as Freudenberg, and I think the
same holds true for ZF, are not actively
involved in pushing out the infrastructure.
We certainly help customers if
they have questions to provide them
with the right network or right access, "
Martens said. " I would make the claim
that the advantage of fuel cell and hydrogen
is that you can always, in an
easier way, transport it, whereas the
transportation of electricity to charging
stations, especially in more remote locations,
can be challenging. With
60,000,000 kilometers driven with
pure electric vehicles, we know some of
the challenges as the fleets grow, in
terms of putting in some of the charging
infrastructure for such large fleets in
one dedicated spot. That's clearly
where we do believe that hydrogen infrastructure
can be superior and solve
some of these issues. "
The cooperation between the two
companies builds on the HyFleet project
announced at the end of 2021.
HyFleet also involves ticketing solutions
provider Flixbus and the climate NGO
Atmosfair. The project was established
to test and build a pure-electrically
powered coach and research fuel cells
for use in coaches.
TRUCK & OFF-HIGHWAY ENGINEERING
ZF/FREUDENBERG
Truck & Off-Highway Engineering - October 2022

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