fuel cells

Are hydrogen combustion engines delayed or DOA?

Guidehouse Insights has published an extensive report on the global prospects for internal combustion engines powered by hydrogen. You can spend $3,950 to buy the full report and its 43 charts tracking markets for H2 ICE. Or, you can read one of the author’s perspectives below.

Hydrogen ICE study: Not that great a solution

Except for some vocational use cases in North America, a forgiving regulatory environment in Europe and a drive for energy independence in India, the idea of using gaseous or...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/are-hydrogen-combustion-engines-delayed-or-doa

ChargePoint’s latest downsizing intended to help stop the bleeding

ChargePoint Holdings is laying off more than 200 employees – 15% of its workforce – in its second downsizing this year. The manufacturer of electric vehicle chargers cut 12% – about 198 jobs – from its global workforce in January.

ChargePoint has been making inroads into commercial trucking and vehicle connectivity. But the financial picture of the company that went public during the SPAC frenzy remains bleak. ChargePoint shares are down more than 35% year to date through Thursday..

The latest...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/chargepoints-latest-downsizing-intended-to-help-stop-the-bleeding

Former Forward Air CEO Tom Schmitt joins Nikola

Zero-emissions truck manufacturer Nikola Corp. said it has hired former Forward Air CEO Tom Schmitt as its chief commercial officer. Schmitt’s February departure from Forward Air came shortly after the company closed on an ill-conceived merger with Omni Logistics.

Schmitt engineered the transaction, which pitted Forward as both capacity provider and competitor to some of its freight forwarding customers. The acquisition, which shareholders alleged subverted their consent, endured months of...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/former-forward-air-ceo-tom-schmitt-joins-nikola

Will Nikola’s best year ever be good enough?

Nikola broke a nine-day stock price losing streak a week ago when it posted record second-quarter revenue. CEO Steve Girsky still enthusiastically believes 2024 will be the best year in company history. Yet, the electric truck maker has only enough cash on hand to last through the end of the year without further diluting investors by converting more shares.

Sweeping away the underbrush

Nikola no longer talks about convicted founder Trevor Milton, who recently dropped his $1 billion suit against...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/will-nikolas-best-year-ever-be-good-enough

Hyzon focuses on US fuel cell market for survival

In its brief four-year history, Hyzon Motors has experienced far more stormy than sunny days. As it struggles to survive, the commercial fuel cell manufacturer is focusing on the U.S., where it sees hydrogen and zero-emission refuse trucks worth pursuing.

Chasing the SPAC money

A spinoff of Singapore-based Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies, Hyzon went public in July 2021 in a reverse merger with special purpose acquisition company Decarbonization Plus Acquisition Corp. It received $550 million in...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/hyzon-focuses-on-us-fuel-cell-market-for-survival

‘Picky’ Gatik nearing mass-produced autonomous trucks

The struggles of autonomous truck makers to move beyond the testing stage are well chronicled. Seven-year-old Gatik, which owns the short-haul pickup-and-delivery “middle mile,” is an exception. By all indications, it has the money, the partnerships and the runway to reach mass production in 2027.

After discussing Gatik’s technology progress with Apeksha Kumavat, co-founder and chief engineer, on this week’s Truck Tech podcast, I caught up with CEO Gautam Narang. That followed Monday’s...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/picky-gatik-nearing-mass-produced-autonomous-trucks

Nikola stats show H2-powered trucking is for real

Nikola has delivered 75 hydrogen-powered fuel cell trucks to customers. It has an order bank that should begin to produce meaningful revenue. Now it is producing statistical evidence that hydrogen-powered trucking is not just for show.

At two industry conferences this week and in data shared first with Truck Tech, Nikola revealed it has:

  • Completed 1,666 hydrogen fill-ups at three mobile refuelers in Coolidge, Arizona, as well as Ontario and Long Beach, California.
  • Dispensed 60.54 tons of...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/nikola-stats-show-h2-powered-trucking-is-for-real

Workhorse on the bubble, or is it worse?

Less than three months after my generally upbeat visit to Workhorse Group’s refurbished plant near the Ohio-Indiana border, the electric truck maker’s situation appears dire.

Layoffs and furloughs

Workhorse has laid off 20% of its workforce. Much of the rest is on unpaid furlough and could be called back to work. 

The company is choked with inventory. It has less than $7 million in cash on the books and accounts payable for more than twice that amount. At a projected burn rate less than Q1’s $5.5...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/workhorse-on-the-bubble-or-is-it-worse

Unraveling the mystery of electric trucks’ residual values 

The regulation-driven purchase of commercial electric trucks carry a lot of unknowns. One of the biggest is their residual value, or how much they will be worth as trade-ins.

Rich Mohr, senior vice president of North America ChargePoint, said the past is a prelude for what is happening with first-generation electric trucks.

Depreciating electric trucks to scrap value

“Three years ago, the biggest risk around fleets adopting electric vehicles was the residual value and the [anticipated] life of...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/unraveling-the-mystery-of-electric-trucks-residual-values

Really cold hydrogen could bring driving range parity with diesel

The time it takes to fuel a hydrogen-powered fuel cell truck is already on par with diesel. But there is still a yawning gap when it comes to comparable driving range. A new hydrogen storage system that packs more energy density might change that.

The goal of hydrogen and battery-electric trucks is to reduce the 12% of greenhouse gas emissions attributed to heavy-duty trucking.

Chill out: Verne goes deep into minus celsius for cryo-compression

San Francisco-based startup Verne is named after 19th...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/really-cold-hydrogen-could-bring-driving-range-parity-with-diesel

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