Recently, Bosch has been using a fuel-cell electric truck in plant traffic at the Nürnberg site, equipped with the Fuel Cell Power Module (FCPM) from Bosch. Alexander Weichsel, commercial plant manager in Nürnberg:
“When we decided to make our plant traffic more climate-friendly, it was clear: We want a truck with FCPM from Bosch. The deployment is for us an important building block to reduce our emissions in logistics. That there are already several thousand trucks worldwide with Bosch fuel-cell systems on the road shows that the concept has proven itself.”
With the switch, Nürnberg also aims to set an example and, in line with the Bavarian Hydrogen Strategy 2.0, commit to building a hydrogen value chain, the company says.
Real operation
provides important data
The Iveco truck has a range of up to 800 kilometers and is operated for the Bosch plant by the Schäflein freight company. Schäflein, in turn, rents the vehicle from Hylane, a rental provider specialized in emission-free trucks.
The vehicle is planned to cover 12,000 kilometers per year and transport products from the plant’s own production on a fixed route. This saves CO2 for Bosch at the Nürnberg plant. The primary goal of the use, however, is initially – in addition to reducing emissions in logistics – to gain experience and collect a lot of data that will feed into the further development of future propulsion systems such as the Compact 190 and Compact 300 models, says Weichsel:
“The
trouble-free operation shows that the fuel cell is ready for serial deployment. Crucial for a successful hydrogen economy are above all a high availability of affordable hydrogen and the building of an adequate H2 infrastructure, also in Nürnberg. We are actively working to implement Bavaria’s hydrogen strategy with industry partners in the Nuremberg metropolitan region.”
Five installed hydrogen tanks
With the FCPM truck from Iveco, Europe now has for the first time its own system in real operation. The five installed hydrogen tanks would hold up to 70 kilograms at 700 bar pressure. The fuel-cell system also delivers a total power of over 200 kilowatts. And the e-axle is powered by the fuel cell system, two centrally mounted battery packs serve as
energy buffers.
The system output of the truck is 400 kilowatts according to the company, and the permissible gross vehicle weight is up to 44 tonnes.
The serial start of the FCPM already took place in mid-2023 in Stuttgart-Feuerbach. The Bosch plant in Bamberg supplies the fuel-cell stack for it, the plant in Homburg provides further components such as the electric air compressor or the recirculation blower.
Bosch is committed to building a hydrogen economy and develops technical solutions for the production, infrastructure and application of hydrogen. In spring, the company brought to market a technology for electrolyzers and presented its Hybrion PEM electrolyzer stacks. Bosch is active in the application of hydrogen in the field of mobile fuel cells and the
