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Honda teamed up with Isuzu to develop heavy electric trucks for transporting goods

Committed to finding a solution to eliminate the large volume of polluting emissions from heavy transport vehicles, Honda and Isuzu teamed up to develop a system that produces electricity on board and which they call Giga Fuel Cell. In practice, it is a large fuel cell that, through the reverse operation of water electrolysis, combines the hydrogen contained in the tank with the oxygen in the air to produce hot water and electrical energy to power the truck's engine.

The joint project of the two Japanese brands is justified as it combines Honda, which in the recent past invested heavily in fuel cells for cars, with Isuzu, which, among other types of vehicles, manufactures large trucks. The model chosen to test the Giga Fuel Cell was a truck with a tractor and a 25-ton semi-trailer, which has already started the testing period and which, according to the manufacturers involved, should extend the development of the technology until September next year. .

Honda and Isuzu's objective is to start selling heavy electric vehicles for the transport of goods powered by hydrogen fuel cells, and it is expected that they are thinking about a range of vehicles with various configurations and weights. And these high-capacity fuel cells could easily be extended to passenger transport buses and even the HA-420 private jet that Honda has been selling since the end of 2015.

With a total length of 11.98 meters and a weight of 25 tons, the truck has tanks that can accommodate 56 kg of hydrogen, which will take no more than a few minutes to fill at a pressure of 700 bar, the standardized value for this type. of vehicles. The Giga Fuel Cell is made up of four stacks with 103 kW each, also using a lithium-ion battery to store excess energy, which then delivers it when a peak of power is requested. With the hydrogen tank topped up, the truck should reach a range of 800 km.

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