# Kenworth T680 Equipped with Hydrogen Fuel Cell on Display at CES



## Kevin Sharpe (Jul 4, 2011)




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## brian_ (Feb 7, 2017)

Isn't it great how decades-old technology can be described as if it is some new miracle? "The Kenworth T680 day cab’s fuel cell combines compressed hydrogen gas and air to produce electricity with only water vapor emitted at the tailpipe"... yes, that's what any hydrogen fuel cell does.  What do they think would be emitted at the tailpipe as the result of combining hydrogen and oxygen?

It is interesting that there's still enough life in the hydrogen fuel silliness to warrant building this vehicle.


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## Kevin Sharpe (Jul 4, 2011)

brian_ said:


> It is interesting that there's still enough life in the hydrogen fuel silliness to warrant building this vehicle.


Lots of hydrogen infrastructure being built in Europe and the world largest wind farm (in the North Sea) will be built without a grid connection


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## Karter2 (Nov 17, 2011)

I would love to see the financial brakedown of using one of the most expensive electricity generation systems (OS wind) to power hydrogen production for one of the least energy efficient power systems.


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## Hollie Maea (Dec 9, 2009)

Oh cool, they got their prototype actually working, unlike a certain company I know...


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## PhantomPholly (Aug 20, 2008)

Kevin Sharpe said:


> Lots of hydrogen infrastructure being built in Europe and the world largest wind farm (in the North Sea) will be built without a grid connection


Another misguided government waste bucket.

Based on all known chemistry, Hydrogen is never likely to be a cost-effective power solution. It simply costs too much to split the O2 and H atoms, and the tech to convert it to electricity is likewise expensive.

Renewable hydrocarbons such as Swift Fuels are far cheaper and more energy-dense.


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## Kevin Sharpe (Jul 4, 2011)

Kenworth Expert Talks Zero Emission Trucks - "In this interview, we talk with Brian Lindgren, Director Research & Development at Kenworth. Brian shares his views on the biggest challenges around zero-emission heavy duty transport, as well as Kenworth’s experience with zero emission trucks."

http://blog.ballard.com/zero-emission-trucks


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## Kevin Sharpe (Jul 4, 2011)

Test drive: Kenworth’s hydrogen fuel cell T680 (see here) 

Article has some great high resolution photos (I've attached some but previews don't display correctly on this forum unfortunately )


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## brian_ (Feb 7, 2017)

Kevin Sharpe said:


> Test drive: Kenworth’s hydrogen fuel cell T680 (see here)


An interesting test application: it has enough battery for about 30 miles of range on stored energy, and while it can carry enough hydrogen for an additional 120 miles, it is only expected to travel about 50 miles per day. In other words, the fuel cell can be non-functional most of the time, or can run at very low power all of the time.

Another interesting set of numbers: with only one ton of batteries, the complete truck weighs three tons more than the diesel version. That's an incredibly heavy combination of motor, fuel cell, set of hydrogen tanks (containing very little hydrogen), and set of supporting equipment.

Despite having a substantial extension on the daycab, it still has equipment mounted behind the cab. It looks like the fuel cell is under the hood (in the engine space), the motor is in the front part of the original transmission space, and the hydrogen tanks are behind the cab. This leaves the ton of battery presumably in side pods where the diesel tanks would normally be. This illustrates the challenge of packaging any hybrid, and is a reminder of why purpose-built electric trucks tend to have motors mounted at the axle (leaving space for everything else in the usual engine and transmission locations).

That fuel cell sure is big... as big as the 14-litre diesel engine which it replaces.


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