Wednesday, March 27, 2024

Amogy tests world’s first ammonia-powered, zero-emission semi-truck

Amogy, a pioneer of emission-free, energy-dense ammonia power solutions, has successfully tested the first-ever ammonia-powered, zero-emission semi-truck.

Founded in 2020, Amogy integrated its technology into a 5 kW drone in July 2021 and 100kW John Deere tractor in May 2022. Now, it has quickly scaled its ammonia-to-power technology to 300 kW – presented in a retrofitted 2018 Freightliner Cascadia powered by Amogy’s ammonia-to-power system slung under the cabin and stacked up behind it.

Following an eight-minute-long fueling, the semi-truck can carry around 900 kWh of total stored net electric energy – roughly the same amount of energy as the Tesla Semi stores in its lithium battery packs.

During the test, the truck was built, fueled, and tested for several hours on the campus of Stony Brook University. Following this successful freight truck testing, the Amogy team will pursue full-scale testing on a test track to showcase the truck’s performance under various real-world operating conditions later this month.

The company says this latest successful presentation further proves ammonia to be a viable, sustainable solution for the otherwise hard-to-abate heavy-duty trucking industries, which account for 23% of the total greenhouse gas emissions from transportation.

Decarbonizing heavy-duty trucking has been challenging. Alternatives like battery power lack the energy density needed to replace diesel for larger vehicles and long-distance routes with minimal downtimes. According to Amogy, its ammonia-to-power system can enable the industry’s transition away from diesel-powered engines to alternative fuel-to-power technologies.

Unlocking ammonia’s potential, Amogy’s proprietary technology enables the onboard cracking of ammonia into hydrogen, which is then sent directly into a fuel cell to power the vehicle. Liquid ammonia has an energy density that is approximately three times greater than compressed hydrogen, and it requires significantly less energy, making it cost-effective to store and transport.

“Beyond its incredible energy density and liquid phase at an ambient temperature, ammonia is an optimal fuel to achieve rapid decarbonization of heavy transportation because it is available globally with existing infrastructure already in place,” said Seonghoon Woo, Chief Executive Officer at Amogy.

“This achievement not only showcases Amogy’s technology as an accessible and scalable solution for trucking, but it also highlights the capabilities and dedication of our outstanding team. First, it was an ammonia-powered drone, then a tractor, and now a truck. In the near future, we look forward to further scaling and tackling other hard-to-abate sectors, such as global shipping.”

Amogy will continue to pursue strategic partnerships across the global shipping and transportation industries. This includes the company’s 1 MW-scale ammonia-powered tugboat to be presented later in 2023 and other commercial deployments with partners, including a recently-announced inland barge retrofit project with Southern Devall. With several successful technology demonstrations completed and a dual presence in the U.S. and in Europe, Amogy is making solid progress toward its goal of reducing more than 5 billion metric tons of CO2 emission by 2040.