“No, that is something different.” Referred to was the brand new Enginius truck standing behind and a little to the side of Kirchhoff. It was no Faun trash collection vehicle, but something deserving of a new name, a new brand, according to the mechanical engineer.
“With Enginius, we want to be the European market leader for short- and medium-haul hydrogen-powered trucks by 2030.”
Patrick Hermanspann, CEO of the FAUN Group
First Bluepower, then Citypower
As one of the first suppliers of municipal vehicles, the member of the Kirchhoff Group intends to build trucks with hydrogen drives in series. This will involve the Econic body manufactured in Bremen by Daimler Trucks. The body will be just the raw version of the vehicle – without the drive unit. Head of development Georg Sandkühler explained, “The vehicles are coming just the way we need them. Nothing will be thrown out.”
Depending on the customer’s needs, one to three 30-kW fuel cell systems from Hydrogenics and two to four hydrogen tanks from South Korea could be installed. Each 700-bar pressure vessel holds 103 liters of hydrogen, which is about 4 kg. Four tanks enable a travel range of about 240 km (150 mi).
“The first nudge to start the truck comes from the battery. It sits under the cabin,” described Sandkühler. He stated a capacity of 85 kWh, but added that this is the end-of-life value. When new, it stores significantly more power. The energy supply runs on a 700-volt basis, since the cable cross-section required can be decreased with a higher voltage.
Author: Sven Geitmann
