Hyzon CEO explains why hydrogen-powered refuse trucks are the only viable zero-emission option

Imagine the difference an additional 40% payload per trip could make to a refuse fleet. That's what Parker Meeks, CEO of Hyzon, is hoping to give haulers in the North American market looking to move away from diesel via Hyzon's hydrogen fuel cell-powered electric refuse trucks, which are now being tested in the U.S. in partnership with New Way, a refuse truck body manufacturer, and Recology, a San Fransisco-based hauler.

"While [all-electric refuse trucks] can do the work on a micro level going job to job house to house, the weight of the batteries creates a situation where most battery trucks can only do about 40-50% of a day's work, because there's a significant weight penalty that's on the truck because of how heavy those batteries are," Meeks says. "So, what we're seeing in most battery-electric trucks is up to a 40% payload penalty, meaning they can carry only 6-7 tons of trash. That's a big problem, because to accomplish the same refuse collection in a single day, you're either making 40% more trips or you're buying 25-40% more trucks. That is the fundamental reason why refuse fleets are so excited to try our truck because we believe we have a vehicle that is the only viable zero-emission refuge collection vehicle on the market today." 

In this episode of The Amped EV Podcast, Meeks breaks down how the performance of Hyzon's hydrogen fuel cell-powered electric refuse vehicle compares to all-electric or trucks with internal combustion engines, how Hyzon is addressing common hydrogen-related challenges like fueling and infrastructure, and how Hyzon has adapted what it learned from running this truck in Australia for the North American market. 

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