Nikola TRE
Production is expected to start in the first quarter of 2021.
Stuttgart The Iveco plant in Ulm has been awarded the Nikola TRE electric truck. The company announced that now. The Nikola TRE is a battery-electric heavy-duty truck, and at the same time the first step towards the planned fuel cell truck.
Iveco builds the model for the parent company CNH Industrial. Last autumn, CNH became the main investor in the financing round of the American Nikola Motor Company with $ 250 million, making it a strategic partner of the American start-up. Production of the Nikola TRE is scheduled to start in 2021 in the Danube Valley.
“The Nikola TRE is the most modern heavy truck in the world and will set the standard for zero-emission vehicles today and in the future,” said Trevor Milton, Nikola Motors chief executive officer. “The world is ready for zero-emission freight transport. The Nikola and Iveco joint venture will be the first to deliver. ”
In the first phase of the project, the joint venture will invest 40 million euros to modernize the Ulm production facilities, the company said. Production is expected to start in the first quarter of 2021 and delivery of the Nikola TRE is expected to begin in the same year.
The Nikola TRE, which is currently being developed for the European market, is based on the new Iveco S-Way platform and integrates Nikolas drive technology, controls and infotainment. The tests are expected to take place from mid-2020, and the first prototypes are to be presented at the IAA 2020 will be shown in September.
According to the company, the first models are the battery-electric 4×2 and 6×2 vehicles with modular and scalable batteries with a capacity of up to 720 kWh. The electric drive has a maximum continuous power of 480 kW.
The Versions with fuel cells are to be built on the same platform from 2023. The fuel cell version has the advantagethat it does not have to carry the tons of batteries and has a range of 700 kilometers. The auto parts supplier Bosch recently demonstrated a fuel cell for Nikola on a test bench in Feuerbach.
Hydrogen filling station network still too small
The units are no larger than conventional diesel engines. Refueling with hydrogen is also as quick as with diesel. Bosch expects the 2030 fuel cell to have a 13 percent market share for heavy commercial vehicles. The world’s largest automotive supplier has massively expanded its commitment to fuel cell technology in the past 12 months.
The heart of a fuel cell drive – the so-called stacks – has been together with the Swedish company since last April Power Cell developed. However, Bosch then takes care of the production alone. So far, the unit has cost more than three times that of a diesel engine. But these costs also decrease with the number of pieces. Bosch is also a partner of Nikola.
However, the hydrogen filling station network is still too small. And the technology is only really environmentally friendly if the hydrogen is generated using renewable energy. The Federal Government recently launched the draft National Hydrogen Strategy to promote the pioneering work of companies in the field of hydrogen technology.
In it, it announces that it will make two billion euros available to finance a hydrogen innovation program and to build the necessary infrastructure. “Today’s decision by Iveco to build the Nikola TRE in Ulm is an important location policy signal for Baden-Württemberg as a location for innovation,” said the Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann,
Alternative forms of drive: “E-mobility will come, there is no alternative”
]]>
“We are pleased that hydrogen-powered trucks will also be produced in Ulm in the future and that the ecosystem for alternative drive technologies in our country will continue to gain momentum and dynamism.” Ulm is also home to the Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Wurttemberg (ZSW), which is one of the leading European energy research institutes.
One focus of the center is in particular on the research and application of hydrogen technology as a component of a sustainable energy supply. “We are investing heavily in alternative drives – from the battery to synthetic fuels to hydrogen.
“The research factory for fuel cells and hydrogen HyFab is an important research project in Ulm, with which we want to advance the industrialization of fuel cell stack production,” said Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann.
“Transformation does not mean dismantling and creeping decline,” said IG Metall district chief Roman Zitzelsberger. Assuming the appropriate will, it is quite possible to establish sustainable technologies at the existing locations. “The example of Iveco and Nikola Motors must be followed by others,” said the trade unionist