EVEN FOR LONG DISTANCES – In the transport professional of goodsbut also of people if necessary, the goal of reaching the destination and making deliveries as quickly as possible often clashes with the still limited range of electric vehicles and with long charging times of theirs batterynot to mention the influence of the transported load (and of the weather conditions) on the mileage at “full capacity”. The strengths of electric vehicles powered by fuel cellshigh autonomy and above all fast refueling times, slightly higher than those required by petrol and diesel, can come into play to address and solve the typical criticalities of battery electric vans. In fact, with the fuel cell power supply it is theoretically possible to use commercial vehicles also on long distanceswithout the time necessary for a possible intermediate refueling (assuming, however, to find an equipped point!) too disadvantageously conditions the overall duration of the trip.
IN COLLABORATION WITH ABT ELINE – The project partner is ABT electronic linewho designed and transformed the vehicles together with Bosch Engineering. For the record, ABT (known above all in sports and tuning, for its links with the brands of the Volkswagen Group) has set up in the recent past the electric variants of the Volkswagen T6 and the Caddy of the previous series, the current one with its own division. dedicated to “green” transformations. All ‘IAA Transport in Hannover, the exhibition dedicated to commercial vehicles, scheduled from 20 to 25 September, Bosch will offer visitors the opportunity to test these prototypes on the road.
THE HYDROGEN POWERTRAIN – For system a fuel cells the developers were able to use components almost exclusively Woods. A fuel cell kit was assembled which includes the stack, the anode power module with gaseous hydrogen injector and recirculation blower, the electronic control unit, the electric air compressor and components for the fuel system. hydrogen storageas well as a large number of sensors. The technical basis of both vehicles is commercially available electrified vans. The batteries were replaced by the fuel cell, five tanks totaling over 10 kg of hydrogen and a smaller lithium-ion battery. ABT partner eLine adapted the cooling system, the vehicle control system and the electrical system. Bosch designed the fuel cell system, integrated it into the vehicle together with the hydrogen storage system and developed the associated control system. After the required technical tests, the vehicles obtained official approval for use on the road.
UP TO 540 KM – The project is already providing important information: even fully loaded, vehicles can travel up to 540 km and with a trefueling time complete with suns 6 minutes. The fuel cell can therefore be an interesting alternative solution to electric propulsion in the future, in particular for fleet operators whose vans cover particularly long distances during the day and return to storage in the evening.
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