E-Trucks Europe delivers hydrogen-ready vehicle to Amsterdam

On Thursday 15 March, Alderman Choho proudly presented the first hydrogen-ready household-waste truck for Amsterdam. E-Trucks Europe produced this truck, which currently operates fully electrically, but is already prepared to be extended to become a hydrogen-hybrid waste truck in 2019. An important step in the journey to the municipality of Amsterdam’s goal to reduce its CO2 emissions by 45% in 2025 compared with 2012.

The municipality of Amsterdam wants ‘a cleaner Amsterdam and a healthier future for people in Amsterdam.’ Through the use of this collection vehicle – now still fully electric and hydrogen-powered in 2019 – they are taking a major step in the right direction. In the future, Amsterdam hopes to introduce more E-Trucks Europe vehicles.

Hydrogen-hybrid trucks are the solution for city-centre transport. Due to all kinds of agreements and regulations to make all the stock in city centres emission-free in the future, the demand for these sorts of vehicles will increase rapidly over the coming years. But before hydrogen can be used as a fuel on a large scale, a lot of further investment in the infrastructure is required. Multiple hydrogen-tank points will be required, for example, spread across the Netherlands. Something that is not yet the case in Amsterdam.

E-Trucks Europe is currently building hydrogen-hybrid waste trucks. These waste trucks are powered electrically, which means that they are silent and do not generate any local emissions. The battery pack is too small, however, and a further increase in size would mean a reduced loading capacity. So a hydrogen system will be installed on these vehicles, which converts hydrogen to electricity. In this way, the vehicles can be used 24 hours a day and will remain clean.