The FC4HD project aims to develop and demonstrate a full 40t fuel cell truck that meets commercial vehicle requirements in terms of performance, efficiency, reliability, and durability.

Bringing Fuel Cell Technologies on the Road – Solutions for the Heavy-duty Segment

The FC4HD fuel cell truck will be demonstrated for six months in real-world operation in a logistics environment. It will be validated in terms of technical performance on test tracks and public roads, and in economic and environmental terms, in preparation for its eventual international market launch.

The Goals

While companies from the Asian and American regions have so far tended to develop specific solutions for special applications in the lower tonnage range, the FC4HD project aims to develop and demonstrate a fully-fledged 40t FC truck (EU tractor unit; 5-LH) for the first time worldwide.

This standardized tractor & trailer solution enables the direct, simple, and smooth integration of such zero-emission heavy-duty vehicles into the existing logistics system in Europe and beyond. It enables the transport of all standard trailers up to 40 tons of gross vehicle weight and can be used in short, medium, and long-distance transport.

In order to achieve this goal, FC4HD will address and solve a whole range of research and development tasks, including

• Scaling up and optimizing a modular FC system to approximately 310kW.
• Development of an optimal cooling system for the components, which will make it possible for the first time to install an FC output of 310kW in a European truck.
• An intelligent, predictive, and holistic energy management system that at least equals today's transport performance in a typical long-distance driving cycle (role of TU Wien).
• Design, layout, thermodynamic simulation, construction, and integration of a 700-bar hydrogen tank system.

Integration of innovative concepts for battery, power electronics, tank system, and a highly compact electric drive axle, as well as a comprehensive electrical/electronic concept.

Publications

Ferrara, Alessandro, Stefan Jakubek, and Christoph Hametner. "Cost-optimal design and energy management of fuel cell electric trucks., opens an external URL in a new window" International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 48, no. 43 (2023): 16420-16434.

Ferrara, Alessandro, and Christoph Hametner. "Eco-driving of fuel cell electric trucks: optimal speed planning combining dynamic programming and Pontryagin’s minimum principle., opens an external URL in a new window" In 2022 IEEE 96th Vehicular Technology Conference (VTC2022-Fall), pp. 1-7. IEEE, 2022.

Zendegan, Saeid, Alessandro Ferrara, Stefan Jakubek, and Christoph Hametner. "Predictive battery state of charge reference generation using basic route information for optimal energy management of heavy-duty fuel cell vehicles., opens an external URL in a new window" IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology 70, no. 12 (2021): 12517-12528.

Ferrara, Alessandro, and Christoph Hametner. "Impact of energy management strategies on hydrogen consumption and start-up/shut-down cycles in fuel cell-ultracapacitor-battery vehicles., opens an external URL in a new window" IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology 71, no. 6 (2021): 5692-5703.

Ferrara, Alessandro, Stefan Jakubek, and Christoph Hametner. "Energy management of heavy-duty fuel cell vehicles in real-world driving scenarios: Robust design of strategies to maximize the hydrogen economy and system lifetime., opens an external URL in a new window" Energy Conversion and Management 232 (2021): 113795.

Duration

• January 2021 - December 2023

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