Antwerp commissions two hydrogen-powered refuse trucks

The city of Antwerp welcomes two new hydrogen-powered municipal waste collection vehicles. A first for Flanders. The vehicles were introduced on Wednesday, December 7th, at the DATS 24 hydrogen filling station in Wilrijk (Antwerp, Belgium).

Hydrogen-powered vehicles are very quiet and clean. They’re equipped with an electric motor and a fuel cell and only emit water vapor. They do not emit any CO2, particles, or nitrogen oxides. The conversion of the two diesel household waste vehicles to fuel cell vehicles was done by E-Trucks Europe in Lommel.

E-Trucks Europe strips the ICE-trucks combustion engines to replace them with an electric motor, a battery pack, and the fuel cell and hydrogen tanks, storing the hydrogen at 350 bar. The advantage of hydrogen vehicles is a longer range and the possibility to fill up the tank in a few minutes if a hydrogen filling station is available.

‘Win-win-win’

Antwerp is proud to be the first city in Flanders to employ hydrogen-powered household refuse collection trucks. According to Alderwoman for City and Neighborhood Maintenance Els van Doesburg (N-VA), the vehicles represent a win-win-win: “they generate no CO2 emissions, no particles, and hardly any noise”.

The vehicles will refuel with hydrogen at the hydrogen refueling station (HRS) of DATS24 in Wilrijk, one of the gas stations of the Colruyt Group, or at the CMB.TECH’s HRS at Havenhuis in Antwerp.

European REVIVE project

The Antwerp refuse trucks are part of the European REVIVE project. Revive stands for ‘Refuse Vehicle Innovation and Validation in Europe’, a four-year project that started in 2018 to test 14 fuel cell refuse trucks in several cities in Europe and promote hydrogen as an alternative fuel.

Seven areas were picked for the EU project, with Antwerp in Belgium, Amsterdam, Breda, Groningen, Helmond, and Roosendaal in the Netherlands, and South Tyrol in Italy. The project, which gathers data on the different trucks all along, demonstrates that fuel cell refuse trucks’ commercialization is economically viable. Others believe battery-electric refuse trucks are an option, too, despite the heavy batteries and charging times.

Sustainable urban fleet

By participating, the city of Antwerp aims to support the further technological development of fuel cells and gain crucial insights into research on the future generation of heavy-duty vehicles. In this way, the city intends to continue its commitment to the sustainability of its urban fleet.

The Clean Hydrogen Partnership and its members Hydrogen Europe and Hydrogen Europe and Hydrogen Europe Research support the project.

 


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