Canadian and US customers of the Nikola Motor Company start-up will take ownership of hydrogen-powered concept semi-trailers in the next year.
Half a million US dollars was the deposit on these “custom-built hydrogen-electric 800-volt fuel cell” lorries, which the company says it will provide 50 filling stations for by 2020. Roughly one per US state and seven in poutine-loving Canada.
The hydrogen fuel cell trucks (HFCT) have a reported range of 1930km, which is not quite up to par just yet, but is enough to worthy interest. NMC CEO Trevor Milton said the company will produce over 100 megawatts per solar farm used to generate hydrogen through the process of electrolysis (Google it, kids). The trucks can achieve 8.5km/litre at full load.
“The desire to be 100 per cent emission free in the US and Canada is a critical piece of our long-term engineering and environmental efforts, not just in vehicle energy consumption, but also in how energy is produced,” Milton said. Nikola’s HFCT launches on December 1 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Watch this space.
