Alan Adler
Fri, July 14, 2023
Robert Bosch will invest $2.6 billion in hydrogen technologies by 2026, including on fuel cells whose first customer will be Nikola Corp. (Photo: Bosch)
Germany-based automotive supplier Robert Bosch expects to post $5.3 billion in sales by the end of the decade from hydrogen fuel cells, hydrogen internal combustion engines and electrolyzers that make hydrogen.
It is the latest proclamation that hydrogen is emerging as a meaningful alternative to battery-electric vehicles, which lead the transition to zero tailpipe emissions by at least a couple of years, according to industry leaders.
Bosch became the second industry player this week to add hydrogen as a fuel for internal combustion engines, following Daimler Truck and engine maker Cummins, which is investing $452 million in a plant in Jamestown, New York, to make fuel-agnostic variants of its X15 engine. Bosch is investing $2.6 billion in hydrogen between 2021 and 2026.
Growing adoption of hydrogen ICE
Bosch is developing systems for port and direct injection of hydrogen. Hydrogen ICEs are particularly suitable for heavy vehicles on long hauls with especially heavy loads.
“A hydrogen engine can do everything a diesel engine does, but on top of that, it is carbon neutral,” Markus Heyn, member of the Bosch board of management and chairman of Bosch Mobility, said in a news release from Bosch Tech Day 2023 in Stuttgart. “It also allows a fast and cost-effective entry into hydrogen-based mobility.”
Interest in hydrogen ICE powertrains grew following a recent European Commission decision declaring them as zero emission despite a small amount of carbon dioxide created through the burning of hydrogen as a fuel.
A major advantage of hydrogen engines is that more than 90% of the development and manufacturing technologies needed already exist. Bosch expects to start production in 2024, three years sooner than Cummins. It has four orders for production projects from major economic regions and expects six-figure unit volumes by 2030.
Bosch adding to fuel-cell efforts
Bosch is leveraging several German locations and one in Anderson, South Carolina, to advance work in hydrogen fuel cells.
The Bosch plant in Bamberg, Germany, will supply the Feuerbach factory with the fuel-cell stack. The electric air compressor and recirculation blower come from the Bosch plant in Homburg, Germany.
An early customer is Nikola Corp., which begins production of a fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) — the Class 8 Tre — in the third quarter from a plant in Coolidge, Arizona. Nikola has a license to assemble the modules at its plant.
“Bosch is one of the very few companies that are capable of mass producing technology as complex as fuel-cell stacks,” Heyn said. “We don’t just have the required systems expertise but also the capability of quickly scaling up new developments to mass production.”
Making the equipment that makes hydrogen
Like battery-powered engines, an abundance of fuel cells means little without the infrastructure. Bosch joins Cummins and a host of other suppliers in making electrolyzers with proton exchange membranes. They effectively the reverse of the energy conversion method used in mobile fuel cells.
The company intends to make 1.25-megawatt prototypes for pilot applications this year. Volume production is on track for 2025.
Bosch also is working on solid-oxide fuel cells that can be used for the distributed supply of power and heat. In a pilot project at a hospital near Cologne, Germany, Bosch seeks to achieve overall efficiency of 90%. The micropower plant initially will run on natural gas. It can be converted to green hydrogen made from renewables.
“Bosch knows its way around hydrogen and Bosch is growing with hydrogen,” Bosch Chairman Stefan Hartung said at the Bosch Tech Day.
Nikola stock surging on hydrogen fuel-cell truck and supply deals
Pras Subramanian
·Senior Reporter
Thu, July 13, 2023
Nikola stock (NKLA) is rocketing higher after the electric truck maker announced two big deals for its hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.
First off, small-scale hydrogen producer BayoTech agreed to a supply deal with Nikola HYLA’s division, which is its hydrogen distribution and dispensing solution for commercial trucking applications using hydrogen fuel-cell technology. BayoTech has agreed to purchase up to 50 Nikola Class 8 hydrogen fuel cell trucks over the next five years, with the first twelve trucks slated for delivery in 2023 and 2024. Nikola says its fuel-cell trucks have a range of up to 500 miles.
The HYLA tie-up with BayoTech will in turn see Nikola purchase up to 10 of BayoTech’s HyFill hydrogen transport trailers, which are required to distribute high-pressure hydrogen from production sites to refueling stations.
Secondly, Nikola supplier Bosch said at its Tech Day 2023 in Stuttgart on Thursday that it would begin volume production of its fuel-cell power modules, with Nikola serving as Bosch’s pilot customer.
Bosch fuel cells will be used in Nikola’s Class 8 truck, which has first deliveries to customers starting in North America in Q3 of this year.
“Bosch is one of the very few companies that are capable of mass-producing technology as complex as fuel-cell stacks. We don’t just have the required systems expertise, but also the capability of quickly scaling up new developments to mass production,” Markus Heyn, Bosch board member and chairman of Bosch Mobility, said in a statement. Bosch says it will invest $2.8 billion into hydrogen fuel technology through 2026, which is over $1 billion more than it was planning to spend.
Bosch's hydrogen fuel cell production line in Germany
Nikola shares traded up nearly 60% in late afternoon trading.
In an interview with Yahoo Finance earlier this year, Nikola CEO Michael Lohscheller said the company was forecasting production of "between 375 and 500 trucks" for the year and that the company plans to temporarily pause production at its Coolidge, Arizona, plant in order to modify the assembly line to accommodate both hydrogen fuel cell and battery electric assembly. The company said it is also leaning more toward boosting production of its hydrogen fuel cell trucks and assembling battery-electric models on a "build-to-order" basis.
It hasn’t been all good news for Nikola recently, as three weeks ago a fire damaged multiple battery-electric trucks at its Arizona headquarters. At the time Nikola said it suspected "foul play," but the Phoenix Fire Department concluded its investigation and found "no evidence at all of arson," meaning a possible battery issue may have been the cause of the fire.
Phoenix and Tempe fire crews battle multiple electric vehicle fires at the Nikola Motor Co. headquarters in Phoenix on June 23, 2023.
Pras Subramanian is a reporter for Yahoo Finance.
Pras Subramanian
·Senior Reporter
Thu, July 13, 2023
Nikola stock (NKLA) is rocketing higher after the electric truck maker announced two big deals for its hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.
First off, small-scale hydrogen producer BayoTech agreed to a supply deal with Nikola HYLA’s division, which is its hydrogen distribution and dispensing solution for commercial trucking applications using hydrogen fuel-cell technology. BayoTech has agreed to purchase up to 50 Nikola Class 8 hydrogen fuel cell trucks over the next five years, with the first twelve trucks slated for delivery in 2023 and 2024. Nikola says its fuel-cell trucks have a range of up to 500 miles.
The HYLA tie-up with BayoTech will in turn see Nikola purchase up to 10 of BayoTech’s HyFill hydrogen transport trailers, which are required to distribute high-pressure hydrogen from production sites to refueling stations.
Nikola Corporation (NKLA) View quote details
Secondly, Nikola supplier Bosch said at its Tech Day 2023 in Stuttgart on Thursday that it would begin volume production of its fuel-cell power modules, with Nikola serving as Bosch’s pilot customer.
Bosch fuel cells will be used in Nikola’s Class 8 truck, which has first deliveries to customers starting in North America in Q3 of this year.
“Bosch is one of the very few companies that are capable of mass-producing technology as complex as fuel-cell stacks. We don’t just have the required systems expertise, but also the capability of quickly scaling up new developments to mass production,” Markus Heyn, Bosch board member and chairman of Bosch Mobility, said in a statement. Bosch says it will invest $2.8 billion into hydrogen fuel technology through 2026, which is over $1 billion more than it was planning to spend.
Bosch's hydrogen fuel cell production line in Germany
Nikola shares traded up nearly 60% in late afternoon trading.
In an interview with Yahoo Finance earlier this year, Nikola CEO Michael Lohscheller said the company was forecasting production of "between 375 and 500 trucks" for the year and that the company plans to temporarily pause production at its Coolidge, Arizona, plant in order to modify the assembly line to accommodate both hydrogen fuel cell and battery electric assembly. The company said it is also leaning more toward boosting production of its hydrogen fuel cell trucks and assembling battery-electric models on a "build-to-order" basis.
It hasn’t been all good news for Nikola recently, as three weeks ago a fire damaged multiple battery-electric trucks at its Arizona headquarters. At the time Nikola said it suspected "foul play," but the Phoenix Fire Department concluded its investigation and found "no evidence at all of arson," meaning a possible battery issue may have been the cause of the fire.
Phoenix and Tempe fire crews battle multiple electric vehicle fires at the Nikola Motor Co. headquarters in Phoenix on June 23, 2023.
Pras Subramanian is a reporter for Yahoo Finance.
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