News

Imagine a leadership role for the U.S. in the multi-trillion-dollar hydrogen economy that is emerging with millions of jobs created. It doesn’t take much imagination to recognize that this has to be part of the future.

After a pandemic-related dip in Q2 and Q3 2020, investment in low-carbon hydrogen is once again on the up. At least US$4.5 billion was invested in the hydrogen market in the first quarter of 2021 alone, with 55 projects announced.

Until 2019, global estimated electrolyser manufacturing capacity was a mere 200 MW. That has since jumped to 6.3 GW of current announced electrolyser capacity, with 1.3 GW added in Q1 2021 alone and another step up in the announced pipeline.

Of course, this still represents only a small percentage of the almost 1,000 GW of electrolyser capacity needed by 2050 to meet our demand forecasts. However, the exponential rate of growth in manufacturing capacity is clear and likely to continue.

The Port of Los Angeles and its partners are launching a new era of pollution-free goods movement with the debut of five new hydrogen-powered fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV) and the grand opening of two hydrogen fueling stations. Under the $82.5 million Shore-to-Store (S2S) project, more than a dozen public and private sector partners have teamed up for a 12-month demonstration of the zero-emissions Class 8 trucks and will expand the project to include five more hydrogen-fueled heavy-duty trucks, two battery-electric yard tractors, and two battery-electric forklifts.

Mirai’s power plant has shown unprecedented durability, with only two vehicles having software glitches that needed attention out of 1200 new Mirais sold at Longo.

Today, the global energy company SGH2 Energy announced the execution of contracts between its subsidiary SGH2 Lancaster Project Company, LLC and two of California’s largest owners and operators of hydrogen refueling stations (HRS).  The companies will use SGH2’s greener than green hydrogen to supply both existing and 90 new refueling stations, which are being rolled out across the state.

Also today, SGH2 Energy and the City of Lancaster announced the signing of their formal public-private partnership establishing the company and city as co-owners of the SGH2 greener than green hydrogen plant based in Lancaster, CA.

“We have definitely seen an increase in interest from customers in the past year,” Amy Adams, Cummins' vice president of Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Technologies, told FleetOwner.

“The attractive parts of the fuel-cell vehicle for now is that it's much more similar to your operation of a diesel vehicle or natural gas vehicle–15 minutes for a fuel up,” Adams said.

Cummins will begin testing fuel cell trucks with four major fleets by the end of the year, Adams said.