The hydrogen cleaning truck is a vehicle that has been adopted by the government and Hyundai Motor Group to test hydrogen truck performance. It has two Hyundai Nexo hydrogen fuel cells with a combined power of 95kW and a drive motor with a maximum output of 240kW.

It also has a battery for storing electrical energy. It has 12 hydrogen tanks on board and can travel for up to 599 kilometers at a time. The maximum load capacity is 4.5 tons, which is the same as cleaning trucks that run on compressed natural gas (CNG).

Hydrogen cleaning trucks are useful for determining the long-term longevity of fuel cell systems. It is easy to see how much exhaust gas, dust, noise, heat, and vibration are decreased when hydrogen technology is used in particular. Cleaners operate in the dark and are prone to a variety of mishaps.

As it operates for several hours, a cleaning truck powered by a huge internal combustion engine with a displacement of 6000 cc or more releases a considerable amount of exhaust gas, dust, and high heat.

Sanitation personnel working behind cleaning vehicles, according to the Ministry of Employment and Labor, are exposed to greater levels of dust than mine workers. Behind the vehicle, the temperature exceeds 54 degrees Celsius.

In residential areas, noise from the operation of continually running the engine and compacting rubbish is a common complaint, making communication between employees impossible.

Hydrogen trucks create water (discharged water) by combining hydrogen with oxygen in the environment to generate electrical energy.

When hydrogen and oxygen react electrochemically, heat is created as well. Heat is not released to the outside since the coolant surrounds the fuel cell system. There is no dust created from the ground while the car heats up since it does not exhale exhaust gas.

The effect of replacing one big internal combustion engine truck with a hydrogen truck is the same as replacing 40 regular passenger cars with hydrogen vehicles.

Furthermore, the noise level is 40% lower than that of a traditional cleaning truck. Hydrogen trucks have a faster charge time and higher range than electric vehicles. According to McKinsey, if a truck travels more than 100 kilometers, hydrogen vehicles are less expensive to carry than electric trucks. The hydrogen cleaning truck in Changwon has two tanks.

The discharged water is stored in the first tank, and separate water can be added to the second tank in addition to the discharged water from the first tank. 22.5 liters of water are emitted while the hydrogen cleaning truck runs for an hour.

“In the interim, when loading waste from the rear of the truck, there have been instances when I have had sore throats and eyes due to soot and dust, and the protective gear has been ripped and dirt leak in,” environmental sanitation workers who have encountered hydrogen cleaning vehicles stated. The hydrogen vehicle is quite beneficial.”

In 1839, a British university professor invented the first hydrogen fuel cell. The development of hydrogen vehicles began in the 1900s, but they were never commercialized owing to a lack of practicality against high cost. In 2013, the first mass-produced hydrogen automobile was unveiled.

The ‘Tucson ix35 Fuel Cell’ is a Hyundai vehicle. Following Hyundai, Toyota and Honda have also installed mass production hydrogen vehicle systems. Although the Tucson ix35 Fuel Cell’s total sales were restricted to 1,000 units, the Nexo, a second-generation hydrogen automobile, sold more over 10,000 units in Korea in just two years and six months after its debut.

The world’s first mass-produced hydrogen truck, the Hyundai Xient, was exported to Switzerland in 140 units. Xients in their 30s will travel to California, USA, next year. Because hydrogen may be found in organic substances including water, gasoline, natural gas, propane, and methanol, hydrogen collection facilities are necessary. Fuel cell technology that uses hydrogen to power a motor has to be improved as well.

Only when hydrogen is extracted from renewable energy rather than fossil fuels will hydrogen trucks be considered genuinely environmentally beneficial vehicles. Above all, because to their high cost, hydrogen trucks are reluctant to catch on. Each unit of Hyundai Motor’s Xient is estimated to be valued around 700 million won.

On the 19th, Hyundai Motor inked a commercial deal to extend the supply of hydrogen buses with the Ministry of Environment, Busan City, Ulsan City, and Gyeongnam Province.

From this year through 2025, the Ministry of the Environment and each local government will push the delivery of more than 100 low-floor hydrogen buses each year, with Hyundai Motor providing incentives such as price reductions.

“In the future, we will launch a trial operation of a long-distance dedicated hydrogen bus to collect data for product enhancement and broaden the scope of the eco-friendly bus industry,” a Hyundai Motor official said.