The partnership of Ballard, a global leader in fuel cell technologies, and QUANTRON, a global leader in electric vehicle integration is expected to accelerate deployment and market adoption of fuel cell technologies. The combined, complementary expertise of Ballard and QUANTRON enables broader customer access to zero emissions fuel cell electric trucks without compromising on range, payload, vehicle utilization or total cost of ownership.
Initial collaboration will focus on the integration of Ballard’s FCmove family of heavy-duty fuel cell power modules into QUANTRON’s electric drivetrain and vehicles. Fuel cell electric truck platforms currently in development include a 7.5t delivery truck, a 44t heavy duty truck and a municipal waste collection truck.
Initial deployment of fuel cell electric trucks is scheduled for the second half of 2022. In Europe, various government subsidies and incentives will be available to vehicle fleet operators. Specifically, Germany has recently committed to covering up to 80% of conversion costs from internal combustions engines to alternative drives through the e-mobility support program.
Key milestone in acceleration of fuel cell technology adoption for truck applications
Andreas Haller, founder and Chairman of Quantron AG: “This is another important milestone for QUANTRON’s global growth. The cooperation with Ballard enables us to bring customised hydrogen commercial vehicles with fuel cell electric drives to the market. Today we embark on a journey of joint development and production of fuel cell electric commercial vehicles”
Robert Campbell, Chief Customer Officer of Ballard Power Systems: “Ballard is looking forward to collaborating with QUANTRON to accelerate the adoption of fuel cell technology for truck applications. The combination of both companies’ expertise will deliver high performance hydrogen trucks to respond to the growing demand for zero emission vehicles from fleet operators and unlock new business opportunities for medium and heavy-duty fuel cell trucks in Germany. Ballard is bringing its 8th generation of heavy-duty fuel cell power module experience built upon over 85 million km’s of road service from over 3,500 buses and trucks powered by our leading PEM technology today.”
Positive impact towards zero emission transport
Heavy duty vehicles have a higher impact on emissions and air pollution in cities than any other vehicle. The critical role of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies in the decarbonization of this sector has now been recognized in many European countries’ hydrogen strategies. Hydrogen and fuel cell technologies are critical to the industry-wide decarbonization effort. The QUANTRON-Ballard collaboration will leverage the synergies between battery electric and fuel cell electric powertrains to enable a greener, faster and more cost effective decarbonization of the transportation sector.