b'2American Journal of Transportation ajot.comFuel cells may provide jolt to switch from diesel to electricBy Matt Miller, AJOTLast month, two vehiclevehiclesdependentonlith-manufacturinggiantsthrewium ion batteries: range and down markers for hydrogen- refueltime.Today,atruck propelled, heavy-duty trucks.can travel 500 miles on a tank These are an alternative typeofhydrogen.Accordingto of zero-emission vehicle thatHyundai, refuel takes eight to uses hydrogen gas as a fuel20 minutes. By comparison, a source,convertedintoelec- battery-sourced electric truck E-Shipping &tricity through fuel cells.can travel no more than 250 First,Hyundaideliveredmiles,andtakesmorethan Freight Management 20 aninitialsevenhydrogen- three hours to recharge. And powered trucks to customersthe batteries are heavy, reduc-in Switzerland. Then, Toyotaing payload.NFI is now testing ten eCascadias. Motor Co. announced a jointWhats more, the cost of venture with truck maker Hinoafuel-cell-equippedClass8 Is the electric semi ready to chargeMotorstodevelopfuel-celltractor is about $60,000 less basedelectrictrucksspecifi- thananionlithiumbattery-callyfortheNorthAmeri- basedsemi,accordingto down a highway near you? can market. A demonstrationfiguresculledbytheBrus-model is expected next year,sels-based NGO, Transport & No doubt the electric semi is on its way, but it may take some time to replacewith customer trials in JapanEnvironment, although these the ubiquitous tractor trailers churning over the nations freeways. But byannounced for 2022. are rough estimates.the late 2030s the sound of the grinding grunt of diesels may be replaced byAmonthearlier,Daim- By2030,Transport& the near-silent whirr of electric motors. lerunveileditsMercedes- Environmentestimatesfuel-Benz fuel-cell concept truck,cell enabled trucks will easily By Matt Miller, AJOTalthoughcustomertrialstravel750milesonatank wont start until 2023.with refueling only 10 to 20 InAugust2019,DaimlerTrucksNorthtion and we keep moving forward, reportedFuel cells provide a cata- minutes.Americahandedoverthekeysoftwoelec- Bill Bliem, NFIs senior vice president, fleetlystthatcombinehydrogenBut theres one enormous tric Class 8 prototypes to truck leasing giantservices. NFI is now testing ten eCascadias,gasandoxygentogeneratedrawback: Fuel costs, which Penske and drayage heavyweight NFI Indus- The trucks are running fantastic. The driverselectricity,whichpropelsare extremely high. In terms tries. The two companies have been putting theabsolutely love them. They think theyre thethe motor. Water is the onlyof propulsion, a kilogram of eCascadia model electric vehicle semi throughgreatest thing in the world. byproduct.hydrogen is about equivalent its paces ever since. NFIs Daimler experience represents oneThistechnologyoffers(JOLTcontinued on Everything is trending in the right direc- (CHARGEcontinued on page 6) twohugeadvantagesoverpage 6)Making Farmto Fork a RealityIts not just the boxits our approach to offering innovative equipment fleet solutions bundled with leading edge technology that makes the difference.Visit www.SeaCubeContainers.com to learn more.BSYA-SeaCube AJOT Half Page 10x8 version B.indd 1 12/7/20 3:36 PM'