Liebherr has announced a pilot project for the world’s first large wheeled loader powered by hydrogen fuel. It will be used in the Kanzelstein quarry in Gratkorn, Austria.
The new project is designed to test a pilot concept initiated by a company between Liebherr and STRABAG (Austria’s largest construction company). STRABAG will use the prototype L 566 H front loader in the two-year test project.
This Liebherr wheel loader is not powered by hydrogen fuel cells. Instead, it is equipped with a specially modified internal combustion engine that burns hydrogen instead of diesel fuel. The companies estimate that such an engine will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by up to 100 tons annually, which corresponds to about 37,500 liters of diesel fuel burned.
«This technology… enables large vehicles that are difficult to electrify due to their high energy requirements to operate without carbon dioxide emissions,» explains Dr. Herbert Pfab, Liebherr’s CTO.
The project authors also took care of the refueling infrastructure. A hydrogen refueling station from Energie Steiermark will provide the environmentally friendly hydrogen needed to refuel the wheeled loader directly in the quarry.
Earlier this year, MAN Trucks CEO Alexander Vlaskamp said:
«It’s one thing to have the technology, but it’s another to make the technology viable. «Green» Hydrogen is not available for transportation and there is no point in switching from diesel to hydrogen if the energy source is not sustainable».
And that’s a problem, because using hydrogen as a fuel doesn’t currently offer much in the way of carbon reduction. That’s because the vast majority of the 90 million tons is produced from natural gas and fossil fuels.
Source: electrek