Over the last few years our customers have been asking us about alternative fuels and what we believe our strategy will be to ensure we play our part in reducing carbon emissions moving forward.
Alternative fuel is a complex topic with many opinions on the pathway forward, and that is why we have taken our time to investigate all the viable options to determine which is the most practical/right direction to head as a business. Our environment is unique, and it was critical that the right fuel solution was selected to ensure we remain productive and effective for our customers moving forward.
In conjunction with our partner HW Richardson Group, it was decided that hydrogen is the way forward. HWR have been investing a significant amount of time and resource into hydrogen and they have invested in 2 electrolysers so that supply of hydrogen can be established locally.
An electrolyser takes water and splits the H2 and the O so it produces Hydrogen and Oxygen as a gas. The gas is then put into cylinders which as you can see in these photos are behind the cab of the truck. The electrolysers use electricity to produce the gas so it’s a pretty simple process and they come in two forty-foot containers making it a very efficient method of producing hydrogen.
New Zealand is probably one of the most advanced countries to be able to do this because we have an abundance of green energy. A lot of countries around the world are having to invest in wind/solar to produce green energy with the goal to then produce Hydrogen.
We are proud to introduce “Blue Hydro”. This is a hybrid fuel truck, and we are hoping to get 50% hydrogen, 50% diesel use over time. The truck will hold 25kg of hydrogen within the on-board storage tanks which are classed non-DG. How this works is when a truck comes under torque, for example when you’re coming to a hill it will switch to diesel, and once it’s back on the flats or coasting down a hill it will shift back to hydrogen.
There is still a lot to learn, and we are looking forward to continuing to explore this more in the future, but dual fuel trucks are a step towards helping to reduce emissions.
