FPT Industrial’s R&D team is working on a project to develop hydrogen fuel cell technology which in the long term could lead to a new zero emissions fuel alternative for commercial transport vehicles.
On display at this week’s IAA commercial vehicle trade fair in Hannover, Germany, the hydrogen-powered drivetrain concept has been designed with a carbon fibre fuel tank from which the hydrogen flows directly into the fuel cells to generate electricity to power a 400kW (536hp) motor.
FPT Industrial, the powertrain brand of CNH Industrial (Case IH, New Holland and Steyr), believes that hydrogen could be produced locally through renewable sources such as bio-methane, wind or solar energy.
Readers may recall that New Holland showed a hydrogen-powered tractor a few years back. Called NH2, the 50kW tractor won a gold medal at the 2009 French SIMA show. The second generation prototype on display at the 2011 Agritechnica developed 100kW (135hp).
The speed of the project was later slowed to focus on the methane-gas powered tractor, but the commercial vehicle concept on display at IAA confirms that hydrogen fuel cell technology is still very much on the agenda at FPT Industrial. There is nothing official but perhaps the firm’s R+D department is still secretly working on a hydrogen-powered tractor?
