Isuzu and Honda team up for hydrogen power

Isuzu Motors Limited and Honda Motor Co Ltd have signed a partnership agreement in which Honda will develop and supply the fuel cell system for a hydrogen-powered heavy-duty truck model that Isuzu is planning to introduce in 2027.

The joint announcement was made in Tokyo, on May 16, 2023 and follows on from the previous agreement, signed in January 2020, when Isuzu Motors Limited and Honda R&D Co Ltd – the research and development arm of Honda – agreed to undertake joint research on heavy-duty trucks, using fuel cell powertrains.

Isuzu and Honda believe that fuel cell technology, using hydrogen as a fuel that produces no CO2 emissions, will achieve operational carbon neutrality of heavy-duty trucks that must transport heavy loads, for long periods and over great distances, with the need for rapid refuelling.

Since January 2020, the two companies have been working on incorporating fuel cells into heavy-duty truck cab/chassis and the development of vehicle control systems.

The two companies plan demonstration testing of a prototype truck on public roads by the first quarter of 2024. The essential operating criteria are optimal performance and customer satisfaction.

The aim of both companies is to produce a range of clean, low-noise, low-vibration, fuel-cell powered heavy-duty trucks, and to achieve their shared goal: the realisation of a carbon-neutral society, via the use of renewable energy.

For years, Isuzu has been striving to use low-carbon and sustainable energy. To that end, Isuzu has researched and developed various powertrains, including engines for natural gas vehicles and battery electric vehicles. In parallel, for the past 30 years, Honda has been working on hybrid and battery-electric vehicles, as well as researching and developing fuel-cell vehicles.

Honda said there are still some issues that need to be addressed to popularise the use of fuel cell and hydrogen energy. These issues are mainly related to cost and infrastructure, and need to be addressed not only by individual companies, but through industry-wide initiatives.

While Isuzu was striving to expand its lineup of next-generation powertrains for heavy-duty trucks and Honda was striving to expand application of its fuel cell technologies beyond use in passenger vehicles, it made sense for both companies to share the same technological research goals – hence the agreement to conduct joint research on heavy-duty fuel cell trucks.

There is no hot combustion in a fuel cell, so no nitrogen oxides are formed and because there is no carbon in the fuel there are no hydrocarbon, carbon monoxide or carbon dioxide emissions either.

Rather than relying on combustion to drive pistons that power an electric generator as in a hybrid car, a fuel-cell vehicle uses electro-chemistry to generate electricity. Compressed or liquified hydrogen gas is stored in a vehicle tank and combined with oxygen from the air in the fuel cell.

Unlike a combustion engine that produces mechanical torque, a fuel cell produces an electric current that drives an electric motor.

A fuel-cell electric vehicle is up to three times as efficient as today’s average hydrocarbon-fuel-powered truck and its range and fuelling time are comparable.

The fuel cell truck’s electric drivetrain needs a battery pack to supply acceleration energy to the drive motor(s) and to absorb electricity created by regenerative braking, but the batteries are only of modest size, in proportion to those in hybrid vehicles.