Recology, which provides waste collection and recycling services to more than 2.5 million customers on the U.S. west coast, is now testing a hydrogen fuel cell-electric vehicle developed by Hyzon and New Way Trucks.
The H2-powered refuse collection vehicle is now being piloted on one of the company’s San Francisco area routes. The refuse collection vehicle was built in partnership between New Way Trucks, a refuse truck body manufacturer, and Hyzon, a fuel cell manufacturer and technology developer.
Recology will pilot the electric refuse vehicle in its efforts to reduce waste and use clean energy. The trial in San Francisco tracks with regional leaders' efforts to bring a similar technology to the ferry boats traversing San Francisco Bay every day.
"Considering there are more than 140,000 refuse trucks operating across the market today, waste collection presents an ideal application to showcase the viability of hydrogen fuel cell technology across the environmental services industry," said Eric Evans, Chief Product Officer for New Way, in a statement.
Recology will test the vehicle in other Bay Area cities after piloting the truck in San Francisco. New Way and Hyzon have scheduled additional trials throughout California later in 2024, to be followed by more trials in Canada.
The trial aims to confirm that zero-emission vehicles have the power and range required to complete collection routes and transport heavy loads. Recology serves customers in California, Oregon and Washington.
In decarbonizing the transportation fleet sectors, many hydrogen proponents say that H2 fuel cells offer improved energy density and longer ranges between refueling than battery electric vehicles. They also are not negatively impacted by extreme temperatures or payload limitations, according to reports.
Through its Assembly Bill 8 program, the state of California has co-funded deployment of at least 100 hydrogen fuel cell refueling stations across the state. The legislation provided the California Energy Commission with up to $20 million annually to develop hydrogen fueling stations up through 2023.
Adoption has been slow due to the scarcity of refueling stations, however, and the H2 market sales are only a small percent of the battery electric sales, according to other reports.
Hydrogen does not contain carbon in its molecular chain and thus does not emit carbon dioxide when combusted or consumed. It is only produced commercially through electrolysis or steam reforming of methane gas.
Fuel cell technology uses an electrochemical reaction to convert a fuel into electricity.
