(Cologne) – The truck rental company Hylane GmbH is purchasing 32 additional “Xcient Fuel Cell” vehicles from Hyundai Hydrogen Mobility. Delivery will take place from the beginning of 2024. The company brought the first “Xcient Fuel Cell” onto German roads in 2022. Since then, the Korean manufacturer's cars have “impressed customers with their stable practical use”.
Beat Hirschi, Managing Director of Hyundai Hydrogen Mobility, and Sara Schiffer, Managing Director of Hylane. © Hylane GmbH
What is new is that some are now being equipped with large swap bodies. These are compatible with various modes of transport such as road, rail and sea, which enables “seamless integration into multimodal logistics systems,” says Sara Schiffer, Managing Director of Hylane. The structures enabled Hylane to open up new customer segments. The “Xcient Fuel Cell” has a range of around 400 kilometers. They store the hydrogen in seven containers and the average refueling time is ten minutes.
In mid-November, the Cologne-based company announced, as reported, that it would expand its rental car fleet for fuel cell vehicles and had concluded purchase contracts for 78 additional trucks, 26 of which would come from Iveco. This brings the total number of heavy trucks available for rent to 122 vehicles. Iveco's FCEV tractor units had a range of up to 800 kilometers. The tanks could hold up to 70 kilograms of hydrogen and fed two fuel cells with a good 200 kilowatts of power. The permissible total weight of the vehicle is 44 tons.
Hylane rents commercial vehicles with fuel cell drives in a “pay-per-use” model. According to its own information, the company now operates “the largest hydrogen truck fleet in the European Union”. All vehicles are funded by the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport (BMDV).
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Hylane will receive another 32 hydrogen trucks from Hyundai. © Hylane GmbH
