Fuel cell electric vehicle Nicola from'Alberta Transportation Association (AMTA) completed a 519 km round trip between Edmonton and Calgary without needing to refuel and with hydrogen in the tank.
“The most important thing to remember is that the vehicle has proven itself capable of long-range operations,” said Robert Harper, AMTA's current president. “We used 61% hydrogen on board.”
“This journey represents a very important milestone for Nikola,” added Nicole Rose, Head of Public Relations and Corporate Communications at Nikola.
“This is the first time our hydrogen car has been used Nikola FCEV It travels such a distance on the same reservoir in Canada. The driver completed the route with efficiency that allowed him to make the trip with less than a full tank of gas.
Dave Lowe from Bison transporta professional driver with 27 years of experience, completed the trip on January 24.
Winter conditions
The truck weighing 11,793 kg was carrying an empty trailer weighing 6,350 kg. According to Mr. Harper, the outside temperature was minus 11 degrees Celsius at the beginning of the trip and reached 0 degrees Celsius at the end.
It took Mr. Lowe three hours to get from Edmonton's Queen Elizabeth II Highway to Calgary and another three hours to get back.
The next step will be to determine hydrogen consumption with the load in the trailer, Harper said.
“Other carbon-neutral vehicles tested in Alberta are better suited to return-to-base and short-distance operations. This vehicle will be able to transport US payloads of 82,000 pounds,” Mr. Harper said.
