Truck & Off-Highway Engineering - August 2024 - 12

America's first high-volume, fast-fill H2
FOR HD TRUCKS
station
INFRASTRUCTURE FEATURE
The Port of Oakland truck stop has everything on-site: Liquid hydrogen storage
(the tall white tank), cryopumps (in the blue container-sized sheds) and other
related tech. Being able to go from liquid hydrogen to gaseous from the tank to
the pump means a much smaller footprint is needed.
New cryopump technology developed with Bosch Rexroth allows
finer flow control of supercooled liquid hydrogen on its way to
becoming gaseous from on-site storage tanks to the pump. This is
one cryopump being tested at FirstElement's Livermore R&D site.
build to sell spare parts, " he said. " We build to sell fuel.
Most parts of this system should never break down. "
HD trucks aren't the only place where hydrogen
makes sense if the cost can be lowered. Container
ships, which generally use low-quality, high-emissions
bunker oil, produce as much sulfur pollution in a year
as 50 million diesel cars. So, converting ships to hydrogen
could reap big environmental benefits.
Liane Randolph, the chair of the influential California
Air Resources Board, said at an opening ceremony
that FirstElement is showing the way to expand the
infrastructure. " This is a massive achievement years in
the making, " she said. " From our perspective, we need
stations with a lot of capacity - a lot of throughput,
and we're now seeing much communication around
trying to build this ecosystem. "
A report by the Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Association
found that at least 4,300 hydrogen filling stations will
be needed by 2030.
The remaining obstacles
The federal government has set aside $8 billion to help
fund these early days of hydrogen adoption. Tyson
Eckerle, senior advisor for clean infrastructure and mobility
to California Gov. Gavin Newsom, said the Port of
12 August 2024
The station serves the bustling Port of Oakland, for which a dedicated fleet of
hydrogen semis will move containers and cargo anywhere within Alameda County.
Oakland station represents " our belief in a better future. There is nothing
easy about this, but it will become easy. " He said that government
investment should allow for the construction of around 60 more hydrogen
truck stations that could serve 5,000 HD trucks and 1,000 buses.
He said the health benefits of eliminating the pollution of 5,000
diesel trucks would be worth about $3 billion annually.
FirstElement is well on its way to solving the delivery and filling
side of the hydrogen equation. The creation of hydrogen is another
leg of the stool; the third is production of hydrogen fuel cell or hydrogen
ICE vehicles. The Department of Energy is making efforts to help
lower the cost of electrolyzer systems that use electricity to split water
into hydrogen and oxygen. The stated goal is a clean hydrogen
created without fossil fuel use at a cost of $1/kg by 2030, with an
interim target of $2/kg by next year. The cost of electrolysis now
ranges from $5 to $12/kg.
FirstElement founder Stephens said the company's future truck
stops could include amenities like convenience stores, food and
showers that drivers are used to seeing. He also said that in addition
to building its own stations across the country, the company is willing
to consider licensing its tech to other companies if it means helping
speed the adoption of hydrogen.
TRUCK & OFF-HIGHWAY ENGINEERING
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: SAE/CHRIS CLONTS; KARL NIELSEN; KARL NIELSEN
Truck & Off-Highway Engineering - August 2024

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