Argonne Nat’l Lab spending large bucks on BIG hydrogen autos

Argonne Nationwide Laboratory is constructing a brand new analysis and growth facility to independently check large-scale hydrogen gasoline cell techniques for heavy-duty and off-road functions with funding from the US Division of Power.

The US Division of Power (DOE) is hoping Argonne Nat’l Lab’s intensive gasoline cell analysis expertise, which dates again to 1996, will give it distinctive insights because it evaluates new polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) gasoline cell techniques starting from 150 to 600 kilowatts to be used in industrial car and stationary energy era functions.

The brand new Argonne check facility will assist show (or, it needs to be stated, disprove) the validity of hydrogen as a viable gasoline for transportation functions together with heavy vans, railroad locomotives, marine vessels, and heavy machines used within the agriculture, building, and mining industries.

“The ability will function a nationwide useful resource for evaluation and testing of professional quality gasoline cell techniques for builders, know-how integrators and end-users in heavy-duty transportation functions together with [OTR] vans, railroad locomotives, marine vessels, plane and autos used within the agriculture, building and mining industries,” explains Ted Krause, laboratory relationship supervisor for Argonne’s hydrogen and gasoline cell packages. “The testing infrastructure will assist advance gasoline cell efficiency and pave the way in which towards integrating the know-how into all of those transportation functions.”

The Hydrogen and Gasoline Cell Applied sciences Workplace (HFTO) of DOE’s Workplace of Power Effectivity and Renewable Power is dedicating about $4 million to assist construct the brand new Argonne facility, which is ready to come back on-line subsequent fall.

Electrek’s Take

It’s going to be onerous to persuade me that the concentrated push for a know-how as inefficient as hydrogen gasoline cells has extra to do with any actual shopper or local weather profit than it does preserving the throngs of individuals it’ll take to fabricate, seize, transport, retailer, home, and successfully dispense hydrogen gainfully employed by means of the following election cycle.

As such, whereas case research just like the hydrogen combustion-powered heavy vans which were trialed at Anglo American’s Mogalakwena mine since 2021 (at prime) and gasoline cell-powered ideas like Komatsu’s medium-sized excavator (above) have confirmed that hydrogen as a gasoline can positively work on a job web site degree whereas producing far fewer dangerous emissions than diesel, I believe swappable batteries like those being proven off by Moog Development and Firstgreen have a far brighter future.

Talking of Moog, we talked to among the engineers being their ZQuip modular battery techniques on a HEP-isode of The Heavy Tools Podcast a number of months again. I’ve included it, beneath, in case that’s one thing you’d like to take a look at.

SOURCES | IMAGES: ANL, Komatsu, and NPROXX.