How Freudenberg explains the advantages of the fuel cell for long -distance buses and trucks

With Freudenberg, a well -known German technology company is working on the further development of fuel cell drive, including for use in long -distance buses such as in the Hyfleet project, a cooperation with ZF Friedrichshafen, Flixbus and a European bus manufacturer that is not mentioned by name. Der dafür zuständige Manager, Michael Milch, Freudenbergs Leiter Sales & Marketing für das Brennstoffzellengeschäft, hat in einem Interview mit Electrive ausführlich über die Chancen und Herausforderungen des Wasserstoffantriebs gesprochen.

In addition to buses, Freudenberg has been producing fuel cell components for cars, trucks, ships and various heavy duty applications for years.However, the know-how from the car area cannot be transferred to long-distance buses and trucks, as milk explains: "Today's fuel cell systems come mainly from car development and have a completely different goal," says the manager.For example, this affects the service life of the systems: a minimum operating time of 5000 to 8000 hours is scheduled for cars.“For heavy duty applications, customers expect 35.000, in the maritime sector up to 50.000 hours ".

The different expectations are related to the application with the different requirement profiles, according to milk: “Sometimes cars drive only an hour a day and stand still 23 hours.But heavy duty vehicles have to earn money.Standstill costs money ".This is similar in long-distance transport, which is why Freudenberg strives to "make hydrogen buses" technically and commercially competitive "in long-distance transport and to find the ideal combination of lifetime and efficiency.

The initial question is: "How much energy can I bring into the vehicle and what about the tank infrastructure, that is: How quickly can I bring energy into the vehicle again during the tank process?".Freudenberg strives for a realistic range of initially 500 kilometers with a tank filling for long -distance buses.That is "the claim of the customer and that is a value that is also created with today's possibilities," explains Milch.The objective of hydrogen trucks in long-distance transport can also be reached, which is about 1000 kilometers without a tank stop.

"How do you see no competition between battery and fuel cells"

Regarding the permanent discussion topic, whether the purely electrical or the one based on hydrogen is the better drive, says Milch that Freudenberg is open to technology and see "no competition between battery and fuel cells".With its customers, the company has "quite open discussions about the various drive technologies", for example with a view to ranges and the specific use scenarios.It is not surprising that the battery is currently advantageous, since "the technological maturity degree in this area is higher".However, milk assumes that the fuel cell is said to have caught up this gap after a few development steps "until the middle of the decade".

The fuel cell is particularly advantageous in long -distance transport of buses and trucks, for example due to the faster refueling compared to the electricity store."Operators cannot allow themselves to have vehicles at a standstill during the charging process," explains Milch.Furthermore, it is also "a question of the space requirement whether you can create very large charging parks for commercial vehicles, on which, for example, six trucks have to load at six charging stations for an hour and are not operational for this time".Or whether as an alternative you prefer "only build an H2 tank column that can supply six vehicles in an hour, but with the significant difference that a truck is fueled every ten minutes and can do your job again immediately".

In short: When it comes to fuel cell drive, refueling is "easier and more cost -efficient, with a lower area of space".Such considerations with regard to the infrastructure and cost requirements of the infrastructure are "not yet very present, since so far only a few electrified commercial vehicles have been on the road, but they will gain relevance," says Milch.

Source: Electrive-fuel cell: Lifting potential for the long-distance bus segment