A hydrogen powered truck is the newest recipient of a Guinness World Record following its record-breaking journey distance achieved without refuelling.
A Kenworth T370 prototype powered by Accelera by Cummins achieved the 2906.47km (1806 mi) journey in Sacramento, California in October this year.
The Class 7 heavy-duty truck weighs roughly 15 tonnes and was powered by an Accelera fuel engine and 25kW traction motor. It carried 175kg of onboard hydrogen and consumed 168kg of it over the journey.
The vehicle’s average speed remained between 50 and 55mph while operating in temperatures between 15 and 26 degrees Celsius. It emitted zero pounds of carbon dioxide over the journey, in comparison to the 664 pounds a traditional combustion engine vehicle would have produced over the same distance.
The prototype truck has been designed for emergency response missions and is the result of a collaboration between Accelera, the U.S Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate, the U.S Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of Defence.
“Industry collaboration and real-world testing is essential to refine innovations, allowing groundbreaking solutions to reach the market,” Technical Lead on the H2Rescue program Prateek Vaish says.
“Together with our government partners, we’ve achieved a key milestone in demonstrating long-haul, zero emissions transportation.”
The H2Rescue truck used in the world record attempt offers several benefits at disaster relief sites. It can power 20-25 FEMA trailers, support shelters and homes for up to 72 hours without refuelling.
“H2Rescue’s successful completion of this record-setting evaluation demonstrates the strength of interagency collaboration and public private partnerships,” Project Manager with the U.S. Army’s Ground Vehicle Systems Centre Eric Wasiloff says.
“We look forward to transitioning lessons learned throughout this project to future fuel cell systems and joint efforts.”
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