ROAD TO ZERO | CENEX-LCV
A FUTURE FOR HYDROGEN BEYOND THE FUEL CELL? With so many battery electric vans already coming to the market, the focus at this year’s Cenex-LCV event had moved to hydrogen, says Dan Gilkes
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hile giving many potential customers a first chance to see an early example of the electric E-Transit on the Ford stand at this year’s Cenex-LCV exhibition, those looking further into the future were already exploring alternatives to full battery power. In most cases, that meant using hydrogen as a potential fuel. Traditionally, opting for hydrogen has meant the use of a fuel cell to convert the gas into electrical energy, with the only waste product being water. But many are now considering hydro-
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gen as an actual fuel, that can be used in a converted diesel engine. There are a number of reasons for this move, not least that converting a current engine is considerably easier and faster than installing a fuel cell into an existing engine bay.
Punch Group Punch Group, through its Italian arm Punch Hydrocells, has already shown a hydrogen internal combustion engine in marine applications. Its latest con-
cept uses a Nissan Navara pick-up as the base vehicle. The engine’s individual cylinder glow plugs are replaced by spark plugs and the fuel injection system modified to deliver hydrogen. The pick-up had been equipped with two hydrogen tanks, holding 6kg of gas at 700 bar pressure. This is enough for a driving range of around 280km. At present the tanks are simply bolted into the pick-up bed, in a production vehicle they would need to be installed below the load area within the chassis. Punch claims that the engine produces a similar power output to the regular diesel, with comparable efficiency. The Punch Flybrid division was also present, with an F-Boost flywheel storage device installed on a Ford Transit Custom PHEV. Designed both to capContinued on p22
Punch Group has converted Nissan Navara's diesel engine to run on hydrogen.
