La Poste and DHL Express France are both testing for the first time in Europe new Renaultelectric vehicles with a hydrogen-powered range extender developed by Symbio FCell to double or
even triple the autonomy of the trucks.For one year initially, La Poste is testing a 4.5-ton Renault Maxity Electric model, designedwith a hydrogen-powered fuel cell and a range of 200 km, under real operating conditions in Dole,Jura department, from mid-February onwards. Due to this region’s especially harsh winter weatherconditions, Dole will serve as the backdrop for the La Poste’s entire experimental fleet.
This field test will enable Renault Trucks to explore all the potential of hydrogen technology.“This vehicle generates no noise impact and only releases water vapor; 200 km of autonomy make itthe ideal choice for daily delivery tours in urban and suburban areas”, Karine Forien, DirectorStrategy Energy Efficiency, Renault Trucks, said. “Our purpose behind this project is to supportEuropean metropolitan areas in their goal of limiting air and noise pollution emissions throughtesting innovative vehicles that produce zero emissions and that should become economically viablefor our customers in the near future.”
For La Poste, which operates the world’s largest fleet of electric vehicles, this experiment ispart of its continuous effort to extend the autonomy of its fleet. For nearly a year, the postaloperator has been testing clean vehicles running on hydrogen during pick-up and distribution ofmail and packages by postmen. “Hydrogen has emerged today as an efficient solution for extendingthe possibilities of the product line and autonomy of the electric vehicle. More broadly, thedevelopment of a hydrogen-based energy storage system is a linchpin to our energy transition”, saidFrédéric Delaval, Technical Director of Services, Mail and Parcel at La Poste.
Renault Trucks has configured its 4.5-ton Maxity Electric vehicle with a setup to integrate thefuel cell into the vehicle, in cooperation with Symbio FCell. As a result, Maxity Electric’saverage autonomy of about 100 km has increased by another 100 km, thanks to the additional energyfrom the fuel cell. The heat released by the cell is reused to warm the passenger compartment,which avoids consuming energy from the batteries, thus helping ensure longer autonomy.
In a separate project called ‘HyWay’, DHL France has also started testing a Renault Kangoo ZEvehicle with a hydrogen-powered range extender from Symbio Fcell in the Rhône-Alpes, which is partof a larger testing project with a total around 50 trucks involved. From 3 March for a durationperiod of 18 months, the vehicle will be delivering parcels in the city centre of Lyon.
The combined power unit with electricity and hydrogen extends the battery range of the vehiclesfrom 120 to over 300 km. Thus, DHL Express is able to deliver parcels in Lyon completely withoutCO2 and noise emissions.
The performance of the hydrogen-powered range extender that is integrated in the Renault KangooZE is 5 kW which doubles its energy capacity and battery range. When fully loaded, it has maximumcapacity of 1.7 kg of hydrogen with an overall range of 300 kg, which triples that of standardmodels with electric batteries.
It is sufficient to fuel the vehicle only every three to four days at one of the hydrogenfilling stations that have been built specifically for this project in Lyon and Grenoble. Thevehicle will cover a distance of 400 km per week thus avoiding 73 kg of CO2 emissions. The annualCO2 savings overall amount to 3.8 tons.
Fabio Ferrari, CEO of Symbio FCell, said: “We are very proud that we can support the energytransition at such an important logistics company like DHL. This is a clear signal for thetransport industry that alternative, 100% emission-free solutions are feasible and sustainable. Thehydrogen-based range extender from Symbio FCell offers the possibility to integrate it in alldiesel vehicles in future without having to sacrifice operational performance.”
Symbio FCell provides mobility solutions that help convert hydrogen into electricity by means ofproton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEM cells). These solutions can be implemented in various waysfor passenger and goods transport. The hydrogen-powered range extender provides a significantincrease in battery capacity and a maximum reduction of CO2 emissions as only water is produced asa waste product.
DHL Express France CEO Michel Akavi commented: “DHL Express is a pioneer in clean transport. InFrance, we were the first to adopt tricycles to deliver to our customers in the city centres. Weare always looking to develop new ‘green’ solutions to reduce CO2 emissions related to ouroperations. We are delighted to participate in this great experiment in Rhône-Alpes. Combiningelectricity / hydrogen is indeed very interesting in terms of autonomy to optimise our deliveryrounds while preserving the environment. If this test is successful, we obviously plan to continueour deliveries with this vehicle beyond the 18 months designated for the project.”
In 2014, DHL Express France saved or compensated nearly 5,000 tonnes of CO2, through greendeliveries in the city centres and its GoGreen carbon-neutral services. DHL Express also uses about20 green vehicles across France including Paris/Ile de France, Orléans, Bordeaux, Montpellier, LaRochelle, Nice, Rennes, Strasbourg, Toulouse and Nantes.
This project is part of its Deutsche Post DHL’s goal to reduce its overall CO2 emissions by 30%by 2020 vs 2007, as part of the group-wide GoGreen programme.
