Rheintal-Transporte to employ Loop fuel cell technology in its heavy trucks
The fuel cell technology will resolve the range anxiety of battery-powered trucks.
Loop Energy and Rheintal-Transporte (Germany low-carbon heavy-duty transportation solutions for freight forwarding services) agreed to develop and supply heavy-duty hydrogen fuel cell range extension solutions for battery electric trucks in Europe.
Rheintal will use Loop’s eFlow™ fuel cell modules for the extended driving range in its battery-electric trucks. Rheintal is to order eFlow™ fuel cell modules for around 20 zero-emission hydrogen trucks and trailers over the next two years.
Rheintal will also get full access to Loop’s end-to-end technical support and access to a network of pre-qualified channel partners specialising in hydrogen-electric power train design, supply of various sub-system components and hydrogen fuel infrastructure.
Wolfgang Normann, Principal of Rheintal-Transporte, said, “Over the last two years, Rheintal has evaluated a range of zero-emission vehicle options and determined that pure battery-electric solutions alone will not meet either our operational demands or range requirements.”
He further added that the eFlow™ fuel cell range extender system benefits from a battery-electric system coupled with a hydrogen fuel engine to resolve its range limitation.
George Rubin, Chief Commercial Officer of Loop Energy, said, “This partnership will help pave the way for enabling a heavy-duty vehicle with a total-cost-of-ownership that is comparable to traditional solutions and with similar operational characteristics to diesel engines.”
Early this month, Loop Energy also signed a strategic cooperation deal with Morello Giovanni Srl (Italy heavy material handling equipment company) for the development and manufacture of heavy-duty hydrogen-electric material handling equipment. Loop agreed to supply its eFlow™ fuel cell modules for integration into hydrogen-electric heavy-duty tractors designed for heavy leading in heavy industries such as steel mills. Both companies aim the design completion in H1:2021, with the construction and deployment of the first ten heavy-duty tractors to start within two years.
