In the race to cut carbon emissions, FirstElement Fuel has provided a boost to heavy trucks switching to abundant hydrogen power.
The Irvine-based company has opened near the Port of Oakland what it calls the first commercial filling station for hydrogen-powered heavy trucks, the start of a network for the big rigs.
While hydrogen power for cars and trucks is not nearly as well known or widely used as the more familiar battery-powered electric vehicles, proponents say the two sources need to exist side by side.
“We need both technologies to reach the state’s sustainability and carbon goals,” FirstElement Founder and Chairman Joel Ewanick told the Business Journal.
Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe, giving it plenty of future potential.
“Compared to battery electric trucks — which are also zero emissions — hydrogen fuel cell trucks offer greater range and faster fueling times,” he said.
200 Trucks
The Oakland station has high capacity, letting it fill about 200 trucks a day in as little as 10 minutes per truck.
Both Nikola and Hyundai trucks are using the station, FirstElement says. The Hyundai and Nikola hydrogen trucks can travel 450 to 500 miles on a full tank of fuel, according to the company.
Ewanick said the Nikola agreement is for a daily minimum and ramping up over time, while Hyundai has 30 trucks currently fueling as part of the demonstration project, called NorCalZero.
“We are part of the California Hydrogen Hub project, the Alliance for Renewable Clean Hydrogen Energy Systems (ARCHES) and plan to build ‘tens of stations’ under that program. We will pursue additional stations nationally as the other H2 (hydrogen) hubs develop,” the founder and chairman said.
Ewanick previously served as General Motors’ global chief marketing officer and vice president of marketing at Hyundai Motors America, where he was named Forbes Chief Marketing Officer of the Year and BrandWeek’s Grand Marketer of the Year.
FirstElement said Sacramento and Kettleman City are slated to become the next hydrogen filling station sites.
“The Port of Oakland station is the first of 15 hydrogen truck stations FEF (FirstElement) plans to open in California to create a hydrogen infrastructure along the major trucking routes,” news site Trucking Info said in May.
Among its partners are Toyota, Honda and the South Coast Air Quality Management District.
$75 Million
“We are filling trucks as part of the demo project,” Ewanick said, with the official opening soon.
In addition to the Oakland heavy truck fueling station, FirstElement also runs a network of 41 retail stations for cars in California that produced $75 million in revenue last year.
FirstElement said the fill-up process for a hydrogen fuel vehicle – often referred to as an FCV – is similar to gasoline pumps and only takes a few minutes.
One drawback has been cost compared to gasoline-powered vehicles, though that is in flux and may depend on the number of hydrogen stations that are opened.
Transportation consulting firm Stillwater Associates said in 2022 that “FCV fuel cost is three times higher per mile than a gasoline hybrid and two times higher than that of a conventional gasoline vehicle.”
“The current costs are high because it is the beginning of the market. We do have a line of sight to get to diesel parity within a few years if there is sufficient demand and policies in place,” Ewanick said.
The company says it gets hydrogen from the Air Liquide plant in Las Vegas and the Linde plant in Ontario.
The global hydrogen fuel cell vehicle market, which was about $1.5 billion in 2023, is expected to grow annually almost 50% to $50 billion by 2032, according to analysis by EMR Claight, which issues marketing reports for the chemicals and minerals industry.
Kenworth, Peterbilt
FirstElement’s Ewanick acknowledges that hydrogen-powered trucks are “not very widespread” now.
“However, many of the large truck manufacturers – Kenworth, Peterbilt, Volvo and Daimler – have all expressed interest in fuel cell trucks and even the domestic light-duty pickup truck manufacturers have announced they are investigating commercial models within the next few years,” he said.
California plans to ban the sale of new diesel trucks by 2036, giving an impetus to develop new environmentally friendly power alternatives.
The U.S. Department of Energy calls hydrogen “an attractive fuel option for transportation and electricity generation applications.”
Energy Department officials also note that “hydrogen has a wide range of flammable concentrations in air and lower ignition energy than gasoline or natural gas, which means it can ignite more easily,” thus requiring additional engineering controls for safe use.
FirstElement’s total headcount is 121 full-time employees as of June.
Hydrogen fuel cells combine hydrogen and oxygen, producing electricity and water. The electricity in turn powers the vehicles’ motors.
“When hydrogen is used to power fuel cell electric vehicles the only byproduct is water vapor,” the company says.
For those who have forgotten their chemistry classes from years past, hydrogen in fact is the first element on the periodic table, hence the company’s name.
OCTA Hydrogen Buses Still Being Evaluated
The Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) in 2020 introduced 10 hydrogen fuel-cell electric buses as part of an emissions-reduction plan.
The verdict is still out, according to a spokesperson.
The reason is because a long-term comparison with 10 plug-in battery electric buses in real-life conditions on Orange County streets didn’t start until 2023.
“While we have been able to test the hydrogen fuel-cell electric buses for more than four years, the plug-in battery electric buses were not fully deployed until last year,” the spokesperson told the Business Journal.
“Now that 10 buses of each are in place, OCTA continues to collect and analyze data to help determine what technology or mix of technologies will work best.”
OCTA staff said it plans to go back to the board later this year to consider adding more zero-emission technology buses and supporting fueling/charging stations. There will be further discussions at that point about the technological mix to best meet the transit agency’s needs.
As of now, the OCTA plan includes purchasing 40 additional hydrogen fuel cell buses and 10 additional plug-in battery electric buses, as well as 10 battery-electric paratransit buses/vans.
OCTA says it continues its effort toward a zero-emission bus fleet, with the goal of fully converting to 100% zero-emission technology by 2040.
