David Thackray, Marketing Director at Tevva, on Tevva’s unique solution to the H2/Battery debate. #WhyTevva

David Thackray, Tevva’s Sales and Marketing Director, recently presented at the FITC webinar ‘Hydrogen for Urban Distribution’, where he made the case for why REX [range extension] is the solution for zero emission freight transportation environmentally and economically.

“Our role as a truck manufacturer is to build a truck that is right for the job,” David explains. “The truck has to be able to handle high mileage whilst also carrying heavy payloads.”

He recognises that electric trucks, despite having higher capex, typically have lower operating costs than diesel-powered freight.

“If Tevva can produce vehicles that are capable of working as hard as a diesel and at TCO parity, customers will buy them tomorrow.”

The main question this all poses is, how do we get the energy onboard the vehicle whilst we tailor the payload? With the growing urgency for climate action, the demand for zero emission transportation and alternative fuels have increased dramatically. Manufacturers globally are rapidly developing carbon efficient technologies to decrease the transportation industry’s carbon footprint. While most transport manufacturers will agree that fundamental change is needed, a range of technologies is still being explored.

Hydrogen technology in particular has caused debate in discourse; Tevva’s approach combines both battery electric and hydrogen as a small fuel cell, creating a climate smart solution which delivers a fully zero emission, fully practical, TCO-parity electric truck.

“We believe we have a very workable solution that gives zero emission range without compromising payload — our software enables us to use cheaper battery energy first, and because the fuel cell is operating as a REX (range extender), not a primary power source, it is small with a much lower power output requirement — keeping the cost within acceptable limits.”

With this solution in mind, David emphasizes that the bottom line is, “range extended trucks carry heavy loads over longer distances.” David notes that the last piece of the puzzle is to make the H2 easily accessible; in the right quantity; in the right places.

Tevva is currently working with European energy company Vattenfall to set up a system to produce and distribute green hydrogen. The goal is that large depots will be able to hold H2 on site, like diesel, delivered by road, and smaller operators can expect solutions such as highway H2 stations. With these developments in mind, Tevva is truly paving the way toward a more efficient, streamlined process to zero emission freight adoption. Our unique solutions will ultimately help us develop the fleet of the future.