The Megawatt Charging Standard (MCS) unveiled last summer will pave the way for more large electric rigs at the expense of hydrogen fuel cell trucks, electric truck consultants predict.
Enthusiasm for hydrogen fuel cell passenger cars has largely played out, and megawatt charging will do the same for fuel cell trucks, Rustam Kocher, former Head of Charging Infrastructure at Daimler Trucks North America, and now a consultant, said in an interview. recently with a charged EV.
Kocher wasn’t sure about hydrogen, saying its ultimate goal was to be “a way for the oil and gas industry to stay relevant.” Hydrogen could benefit from the know-how of the fossil fuel industry because it can be pumped through pipes and stored in tanks like oil and natural gas, Kocher said, but said hydrogen fuel cells were less efficient than batteries and “very expensive.
Electric Island – Daimler Trucks North America and PGE – Portland OR
“Big Oil has a lot of resources and money to drive this narrative” about the hydrogen promise, Kocher said. But he believes megawatt charging will “pull the hydrogen bullet” to match its fast refueling time, which he sees as hydrogen’s only potential advantage.
“With the MCS, the pace is the same,” he says. “In fact, it’s probably faster, so hydrogen can mash up salt.”
When announced last summer, the MCS was said to offer “reasonable” charging times for Class 6, 7, and 8 commercial vehicles. These vehicles are expected to use very large battery packs, requiring more power for fast charging than the current 350 kW. this is the top standard for the Combined Charging Standard (CCS) used by passenger cars.
Electric Island – Daimler Trucks North America and PGE – Portland OR
MCS aims to provide fast charging packages that, like CCS, allow charging stations to be compatible with vehicles from a variety of manufacturers. Even Tesla, which is going its own way with fast charging passenger cars, has confirmed its megawatt charging technology for the Cybertruck and Semi, but has yet to sign up for use of the tricky MCS connector.
However, megawatt charging stations for trucks present a more severe challenge for deployment than those designed for passenger cars, as they need to not only provide space for larger trucks but also be at a point in the network that can support power levels of 10 MW or more. .
WattEV electric truck stops rendering
One of the first such stations was the site of Portland’s Electric Island, which was developed by Daimler Trucks North America (Kocher’s former company) and General Electric’s Portland utility. Another template might be the electric truck stop planned by startup WattEV in Bakersfield, California, which targets 40 charging kiosks and 25MW of solar charging.
Perhaps even more confusing is that companies championing the MCS, such as Daimler Trucks, are also investing in hydrogen fuel. So it’s fair to say the war between these technologies is not over.
