Recently, cars that use hydrogen fuel cells have become more and more widespread. The French company Gaussin has presented the world’s first rally hydrogen truck H2 Racing Truck, which will participate in the Dakar.
The technology of hydrogen-advanced fuel cells has proven its worth. Hydrogen cells are considered to be an almost ideal source of efficient energy due to their relatively low emissions during production, as well as zero-emissions when used as fuel.
Among other world manufacturers, the French brand Gaussin is engaged in the development of this technology. The company has demonstrated the world’s first rally hydrogen truck H2 Racing Truck.
Fuel hydrogen cells have not yet been able to find mass application as a source of energy due to the fact that such equipment is quite expensive. The technology to produce hydrogen will also require a lot of money.
If the developers can significantly increase the energy efficiency of the fuel cells produced, as well as reduce the cost of the equipment, hydrogen power units could take the lead in the automotive industry.
Hydrogen technology could become very useful for truck assemblers in the future. They need a large amount of energy to power powerful electric motors. This is a task that modern batteries can’t handle. The weight of the battery pack of the required capacity will be very high. At the same time, fuel cells are more suitable for these purposes.
The development of hydrogen cars has also decided to take Gaussin, which is working on the creation of hydrogen trucks. The company’s specialists have developed a line of trucks, which were built using a common platform.
The truck was created by local engineers. They tried to make it more versatile. In the case of such an approach in the future, they only needed to develop different types of car bodies to create a tractor-trailer, van, or dump truck. Gaussin has demonstrated the planet’s first hydrogen-powered racing truck, which will compete in the Dakar rally this January.
The tank of the H2 Racing Truck version holds 80 kg of liquid hydrogen. It takes 20 minutes to fill it. The maximum speed of the truck reaches 140 km/hour. The model is able to travel about 250 km on one filling.
The vehicle is powered by two electric motors of 300 kilowatts each. Overall, the power plant generates 815 hp. The power of fuel cells of the power plant reaches 380 kW. The lithium-ion traction battery generates 82 kWh.
It should be noted that the battery will be used in the busiest moments when the truck will have to squeeze out all the power. The battery will be able to regenerate its charge with the help of a special hydrogen unit.