NEWS
HWR Group ready for hydrogen move SOUTHLAND-BASED TRANSPORT GIANT H.W. RICHARDSON Group (HWR) is poised to lead New Zealand’s adoption of hydrogen to reduce emissions from heavy vehicles. Group CEO Anthony Jones confirms HWR has been trialling a hydrogen dual-fuel truck since the last half of 2021 and is now committed to a fleet of 10 dual-fuel trucks which are scheduled to go on the road in the second quarter of 2023. The trucks are fitted with pressurised hydrogen tanks behind the cab. With modifications to the intake system, the existing diesel engines run on a dual-fuel mix that replaces up to 40% of the diesel fuel consumption with an equivalent amount of hydrogen. The result is a 40% reduction in exhaust emissions. “Based on our reviews, the key factors to a sustainable fuels transition will be managing the existing capital base deployed today in the heavy transport industry. That is why we chose dual-fuel in the first instance. It’s a way to transition the industry sustainably to hydrogen. Over time we see our fleet moving to 100% hydrogen fuel cells in the future, but not just yet,” says Jones. HWR Group has worked closely with Christchurch’s AF Cryo, part of Fabrum Solutions. AF Cryo has partnered with UK-based Clean Power Hydrogen (CPH2) and supplies the cryogenic cooling system for the CPH2 membrane free electrolyser.
HWR Group has a fleet of 470 trucks in the South Island and more than 1300 nationwide.
4 | Truck & Driver
“I would say they are the leaders in this technology, and they have perfected the IP and technology around the liquification of hydrogen and its storage,” says Jones “We have committed to our first 1.1-Megawatt (MW) electrolyser and storage system with options to buy further. It will be delivered in August and commissioned by March or April next year.” The system is scalable and produces the hydrogen onsite. The 1.1MW CPH2 electrolyser is capable of producing 450kg of high purity hydrogen per day from water. “The first one will be in Southland. There are reasons for that, including the access to green power, water, coupled with our existing fuels and transport network ,” Jones says. The first trucks are new units which will be fitted with the storage tanks and modifications to the intake system in Europe as well as here in NZ. “We are working with a European supplier that has perfected dual-fuel technology.” There are also plans to locally retro-fit existing trucks in the HWR fleets. HWR plans to have 10 trucks on the road in the second quarter of next year to coincide with the first hydrogen plant being commissioned. The medium-term roll-out of more hydrogen refuelling locations is tied to HWR Group’s Allied Petroleum network which stretches from the Bay of Islands to Stewart Island.
