Source: Fuel Cells | Cummins Inc. Cummins acquires Hydrogenics, a fuel cell and hydrogen production technologies provider, makes a minority investment in Loop Energy, a fuel cell electric range extender provider, and signs a memorandum of understanding with Hyundai Motor Company to collaborate on hydrogen fuel cell technology. Well it looks like another money pit. Bob Wilson
Well, if your forte is building diesel engines, & you may not be able to run diesel in the not-too-distant future, you better look into finding SOME way to remain relevant. Still, maybe they ought to keep looking. .
When I clicked on it I was thinking this was going to be about someone who put gasoline in their diesal truck tank... Guess not...
Cummings already does natural gas engines, and their applications aren't limited to trucks. They could be running those cow poo generators on farms. Engines for pick ups is a small part of their products. It seems they are looking at fuel cells for larger things, where the hurdles for hydrogen aren't as high as for personal cars. They also aren't putting all their fuel cell eggs in the PEM basket. They are also looking at solid oxide fuel cells. These are friendlier to other fuels. Small molecule ones, like natural gas and ammonia, don't need an onboard reformer with them.
not good but real world at least https://www.bio.org/sites/default/files/legacy/bioorg/docs/1030AM-Mikio%20Matsumoto.pdf e-Bio Fuel-Cell | NISSAN | TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES The campy bloom box is SOFC but is expensive and more of a novelty
Cummings is investing in all since they know in 50 years their diesel tech will likely be dead or dying. They are producing bev drivetrains for busses Over 100 Blue Bird electric school buses plugging into districts | Cummins Inc. They also have natural gas phev platforms. A solid oxide fuel cell in a phev truck might work well. In California it could run hydrogen, in the rest of the US it could run natural gas (cng or lng) or methanol. Not a bad idea for a platform. BEV trucks are likely relegated to short haul operations. If solid oxide fuel cells get developed well enough a phev fuel cell long haul truck may make a lot more sense than diesel. While waiting for solid oxide fuel cells to get to commercialization in mobil platforms, they can use hyundai's PEM cells, with reformers for natural gas or methanol or even gasoline.
Wikipedia is a good starting point. Solid oxide fuel cell - Wikipedia They aren't as efficient as PEM fuel cells, because they need to run at much higher temperatures. Which is worse when they aren't fully warmed up. To reduce that start up hit to efficiency, Nissan uses a large battery with a small fuel cell. Their test vehicle is an e-NV200 van, which uses a gen 1 Leaf power train. the battery does all the work while the 5kW fuel cell supplies a steady current for most of the trip, and will charge the pack up at the end so it's full for the next trip. They took the charger out, but really no technical reason to not have one. Proton-exchange membrane fuel cell - Wikipedia Is what every other car maker with a FCEV is using. More mature technology, but they require pure hydrogen, as in good enough for a research lab. It doesn't take much carbon monoxide, a by-product of steam reformation, to poison the fuel cell. This makes onboard reformation difficult with most fuels.
Kenworth and Peterbilt Zero Emissions Trucks Summit 14,115-Foot Pikes Peak; First Class 8 Electric Vehicles to Achieve Landmark Milestone | Business Wire
I only need to go faster than 65 if I have emotional issues not related to a safe journey... I guess that's why us Priusers stay to the right?
