The Cologne-based company hylane is expanding its rental fleet for vehicles with fuel cells and has concluded purchase contracts for 78 additional trucks. 26 of the new vehicles come from the manufacturer IVECO. The companies also cooperate with the workshop network: hylane tenants from IVECO and Hyundai hydrogen trucks can now access some selected and certified workshops.
hylane already operates the largest hydrogen truck fleet in the European Union. The vehicles have proven themselves in practical use in heavy road freight transport with various customers. Due to the positive experience and high demand, hylane is expanding its fleet by 78 new trucks to a total of 122 vehicles.
Bernd Zens, Managing Director of hylane: “We are pleased about the positive development of the company. We particularly appreciate that we can further consolidate the trust of our existing customers and successfully expand our business with them. The ongoing demand confirms that we are on the right track and motivates us to work even more committedly on our project.”
Close cooperation with IVECO
hylane has been able to win a new partner for the expansion of the business with IVECO – both as a manufacturer of trucks with fuel cells and as a workshop partner for selected vehicles. The first purchase contracts include 26 tractor units with fuel cell drive. While the previous vehicles in the hylane fleet are refueled with a pressure of 350 bar, IVECO relies on a refueling pressure of 700 bar. Tenants of hylane allows this to gain experience with both systems.
Christian Sulser, Board Member of Sales and Marketing of Iveco Magirus AG, says: “We are pleased to have a first partner in Germany with hylane, who trusts not only in our vehicle expertise in the field of fuel cell technology, but also in our workshop expertise for fuel cell-powered vehicles.”
Technical data of the vehicles
The FCEV tractor units from IVECO have a range of up to 800 kilometers. The tanks can store up to 70 kilograms of hydrogen at a pressure of 700 bar and feed two fuel cells with a good 200 kW power. The eAch obtains its energy from the fuel cells and the two battery packs that are installed centrally in the frame. The system power is 400 kW. The permissible total weight of the vehicle is 44 tons.
Sara Schiffer, Managing Director of hylane: “The cooperation with IVECO represents a significant milestone in our company history. Especially in the area of 40-tonners, we see enormous demand and the greatest potential for reducing CO2 emissions. In addition, with IVECO, we are gaining a strong partner with an established workshop network, which is of great importance to us.”
Funded by the BMDV
All procured vehicles were funded under the directive on the promotion of light and heavy commercial vehicles with alternative, climate-friendly drives and associated tank and charging infrastructure (KsNI) by the Federal Ministry of Digital and Transport (BMDV). The funding guideline is coordinated by NOW GmbH, applications are approved by the Federal Office for Goods Transport. Through a usage-based rental in the so-called “pay-per-use model”, hylane customers only pay for the kilometers actually driven. The funds from the funding are fully used to reduce the rental rates for the vehicles offered and thus offer competitive prices.
