Symbio H2 Central Valley Express
Advanced hydrogen fuel cell truck demonstration in challenging extended regional haul operations
Institute of Gas Technology dba GTI Energy
Recipient
Davis, CA
Recipient Location
$832,589
Amount Spent
Active
Project Status
Project Update
The team has designed, developed, and integrated a heavy-duty fuel cell powertrain, powered by Symbio’s fuel cell technology, into a Freightliner Cascadia Class 8 tractor. The vehicle offers 400 kW power output with 4000 Nm of torque delivered to the electric tandem axle. Supported by 67 kg of 700 bar storage, the expected range is 450 miles. The vehicle is capable of maintaining 65 mph on flat ground and 26 mph on 6% grade with a 57,000 lb trailer.
The team completed the vehicle commissioning and validation and is working with prospective freight carriers to begin a demonstration in the third quarter of 2025. This demonstration will showcase the truck's capabilities to operate regional hauls in Southern California.
The Issue
Extended regional highway freight routes pose significant challenges to zero-emission trucks given the demanding energy and power required to meet the duty cycle. Common barriers to broader adoption include: (1) range anxiety and inadequate performance, (2) insufficient fueling infrastructure, (3) limited service and maintenance support, (4) high total cost of ownership (TCO), and (5) low private sector investment. A zero-emission powertrain with comparable performance to a traditional powertrain is needed to address challenging duty cycles to support California’s goal to transition to 100 percent zero-emission heavy-duty vehicles.
Project Innovation
This project will develop an advanced high power fuel cell system, improve the hydrogen-to-system mass ratio of the onboard hydrogen storage system, and demonstrate low rolling resistance tires in a high torque fuel cell electric vehicle application. These technologies will be integrated onto a Class 8 truck and demonstratedon challenging duty cycles including regional haul routes in Southern California.
Project Goals
Develop a Class 8 fuel cell truck that can meet regional haul operations as a one-to-one replacement for a diesel truck.
Integrate a pre-commercial hydrogen fuel cell system, onboard hydrogen storage, and low-rolling resistance tires.
Demonstrate the Class 8 fuel cell truck in real-world operation to verify performance and validate design improvements.
Reduce TCO by 30 percent to encourage adoption.
Improve performance, durability, and maintainability of a regional-haul fuel cell truck.
Project Benefits
The current major barriers of mass adoption of zero emission trucks in the long-haul freight industry are range anxiety, performance concerns, insufficient fueling infrastructure, service and maintenance support, and cost. This project will help remove and/or minimize the adoption barriers and stimulate private sector investment and participation, hence increase adoption of hydrogen fuel cell truck in the goods movement industry.
Environmental Sustainability
Environmental Sustainability
The fuel cell truck will displace approximately 17,000 gallons of diesel fuel over the 12-month demonstration, which will reduce the CO2 emissions by estimated 127 metric tons. Additionally, the vehicle will displace 0.0644 tonnes of NOx and 0.0027 tonnes or PM10.
Economic Development
Economic Development
Long-term economic benefits include lowering retail cost of hydrogen due to increased hydrogen demand and supply.
Affordability
Affordability
The combination of hydrogen fuel cell truck technology will demonstrate a 30% reduction in total cost of ownership compared to state of the art.
Key Project Members
Doug Medynskyj
R&D Engineer
GTI Energy
Elton Rohrer
Sr. Technical Program Manager
Symbio North America
Subrecipients
Tech Partner
Frontier Energy, Inc.
Tech Partner
Symbio North America Corporation
Michelin North America
Match Partners
Utilization Technology Development
Symbio North America Corporation
Michelin North America
