Demonstration of a Fuel Cell Electric Truck for Waste Transportation

Office of Energy and Renewable Energy has created a Fuel Cell Transfer Opportunity (FCTO) designed to encourage the private sectors participation in developing and demonstrating a proof of concept heavy-duty fuel cell-electric hybrid truck for waste hauling applications. Vision Industries Corporation (OTCBB: VIIC) of Long Beach, California , intends to support this initiative by prototyping a Class 8 Hydrogen Fuel Cell Electric Refuse Truck . Fuel Cell Electric Refuse Truck will be placed in demonstration service with the Santa Monica Publics Works Division , in the City of Santa Monica, California. This project aims to measure and demonstrate operational cost - effectiveness, emission reduction and commercial viability of a heavy-duty fuel cell electric vehicle in the refuse service. Vision Industries has reached out to the Santa Monica Public Works Division of the City of Santa Monica (CA), as a research and testing partner. The City of Santa Monica (8.3 sq. miles) is located in Los Angeles County and has a population of about 94,000 people. Its trash collection strategy has broken-up the City into five (5) collection zones. Each zone is picked-up Monday through Friday starting from the east and terminating in the west. The majority of the routes are in residential communities. To demonstrate that a fuel cell electric vehicle can: 1. Operate in a trash collection zone with a zero-emission footprint; with 2. Reduced engine noise; and operates with 3. Greater energy efficiency therefore reducing total lifetime fueling cost. The Santa Monica municipality is perfect for operating a FCEV. For starters, the majority of the garbage collection vehicles have a short-range return-to-base duty-cycle, which is ideal for the Santa Monica Public Works Division, who has their own on-site hydrogen source. Therefore, a single fueling station can support an entire fleet. Secondly, due to the constant stop and go nature of trash collection, the regenerative braking capabilities of an electric drivetrain can add considerable energy back to the battery packs. The demonstration vehicles will be built on a Peterbilt 320 or Autocar chassis with a 55,000 Gross Combined Vehicle Weight Rating (GCVWR). The vehicle will use a Siemens 320 kW ELFA drivetrain powered by lithium iron phosphate batteries with a 130 kWh total capacity. To increase the vehicles range, two Hydrogenics 16.5 kW PEM fuel cells (33 kW combined) will be added to take advantage of the 15kg of onboard hydrogen. Vision will then use its own vehicle control unit (VCU), which uses the J1930 CAN Bus protocol, to govern the drivetrain, battery management system, fuel cells and overall performance of the vehicle to optimize vehicle efficiency, maximize battery life, and protect key components such as batteries and power electronics from excessive temperatures, voltage spikes, or current surges. Since the energy consumption rates of a residential refuse truck will be new to Vision, the component ratings are subject to change as the company right-sizes the vehicle for weight, performance and cost.