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Emission free transport is soon available everywhere

funkitPosted for Everyone to comment on, 5 years ago3 min read

Coincidence led me to invest in a small company some 4 years ago. The company is called Nel Hydrogen and produces electrolyzers for production of hydrogen. At the time an outlandish idea from pure economics, but still I did when I learned about this market. Nel grew their business and is today the largest company in the segment of water electrolysis. An area that is going to explode in the coming years. And here is one of the main reasons why I think so. Nikola motors.

Nikola will change heavy transport forever

Electrification of heavy transport is not an easy task. Hauling heavy loads across nations demands enormous amounts of energy. You might have heard of Tesla and their ambition to make a battery powered truck. An effort I think will fail simply because the heavy load the battery pack will decrease payloads.

Nikola takes a different approach and use hydrogen fuel cells to power the vehicle. Which makes its weight comparable to a diesel truck. And by doing so there is no sacrifice in payloads and range. In addition they increase power compared to the diesel equivalents.

Nikola Tre is coming to Europe

This week they launched yet another offering designed specifically for Europe and the rest of the world. Tre might sound like a phony name, but it actually means three in Norwegian and is a continuation of the Nikola One and Two. It also underlines the strong relationship with Nel Hydrogen which will provide the equipment for their fueling stations.

I have touched on this before, but to refresh: back in June they signed a deal for the first 448 electrolyzers and equipment to establish the first 40-60 refueling stations for the US. Mainly to cover the needs for Aneheuser Busch, which has ordered 800 Trucks for their distribution business. Currently they have received orders of some 11 bn USD in total.

The Nikola Tre on the other hand is meant for the European market. Testing is set to commence some time in 2020, which is the same time the first production models of the American versions are expected to be ready.

Infrastructure

The infrastructure needed for electrified heavy transport is enormous. Each of the electrolyzers are capable of producing 1 ton of hydrogen each day. Compared to diesel, it is about 3 times the energy per weight unit. Which should give you an idea of the scale we are talking here. Add to it that the Nikola stations will have a cluster of electrolyzers of up to 32 units.

The economics in this endeavor is enabled by cheap renewable energy that can be stored as hydrogen. Solar, wind and where possible, hydropower will bring down the production price to about 5 USD per kg of hydrogen.

The fun thing is that also other users will benefit from the new infrastructure. The truck owners get it for free through their lease plan.

Source: https://nikolamotor.com/press_releases/nikola-launches-stunning-truck-for-european-market-53

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