Most people in Australia have never heard of Quantron, but it is a significant player in the zero emission heavy vehicle space in Germany. As a start up in the burgeoning European zero emission heavy vehicle market Quantron is a significant player and used the IAA in Hannover to announce a significant advance with the addition of a hydrogen fuel cell truck to its portfolio of electric trucks and vans.
Quantron unveiled its QHM FCEV hydrogen truck, for which it is claiming an overall range of 1500km on a single fill of hydrogen.
Quantron said the vehicle features an integrated Ballard FCmove-XD 120 kW fuel cell in the QHM 44-2000 model.
The company says the QHM FCEV already has 250 initial inquiries and the first orders have already been placed for the vehicle, including with a particularly high demand in Germany thanks to recent funding applications as well as in Norway where Quantron particularly developed the QHM FCEV specially for the Nordic country as an operating area.
Quantron said it has ordered 140 fuel cell engines from Ballard to secure the supply chain, with an option to purchase an additional 50 units, with the first fuel cell modules expected to be delivered in 2023 and 2024.
Since September 2021, Quantron and Ballard have been in a strategic partnership to accelerate the development of heavy duty hydrogen vehicles. Ballard has since made a minority equity investment in Quantron, with the proceeds to be used by Quantron to develop its truck fuel cell truck platforms, with Ballard to be the exclusive fuel cell supplier to for these platforms.
Quantron says its initial market focus is Germany, where the new 44t fuel cell truck was unveiled adding that a total of four FCEV models are planned in cooperation with Ballard Power for 2023.
“We are seeing growing global demand and policy support for zero emission transport as companies strive to reach decarbonization targets. This collaboration accelerates our entry into the European truck market and aims to have Quantron’s initial hydrogen-powered, zero emission trucks on the road in the next 18 months,” said Randy MacEwen, CEO at Ballard Power Systems.
“Quantron is thrilled to advance our strategic partnership with Ballard. We see compelling mobility use cases where fuel cell engines are the most suitable zero emission solution, given the power and range requirements of the application,” said Quantron founder and chair, Andreas Haller.
In a separate announcement Quantron said it had signed a deal with Allison Transmission to use the US company’s eGen Power e Axle in the new fuel cell truck.
Quantron says it has integrated the Allison eGen Power130D e-Axle into its new fuel cell electric truck, which is able to used for both prime mover and chassis derivatives.
“When evaluating the electric propulsion solutions, Quantron selected Allison’s eGen Power 130D e-Axle due to its outstanding benefits including optimized efficiency and performance, a next generation controls system and industry-leading package density,” said René Wollmann, CTO, of Quantron AG.
“In addition, Allison has a legendary reputation for reliability and durability. We believe that Allison’s differentiated e-Axle portfolio will allow QUANTRON to accelerate our growth.”
The Quantron FCEV truck has a capacity of 54 kilogram of on-board hydrogen storage with the Ballard fuel cells, delivering 240 kilowatts of clean power into a 118 kilowatt-hour battery pack delivering a normal range up to 700km in the displayed version.
The Quantron QHM FCEV 44-1000 will be available in 4×2 and 6×2 axle configurations, with availability for customer testing in Europe in 2023.
The Allison eGen Power 130D electric axle, combines two electric motors and a two-speed transmission in one unit.
The two integrated electric motors deliver a total of 454 kW of continuous power and up to 652 kW of peak power. Quantron is the latest customer to integrate the eGen Power 130D, which was specifically designed to operate in commercial vehicles in European and Asia Pacific markets. Allison’s eGen Power family of e-Axles includes two additional variants developed to address the wide range of markets Allison serves.
“We are proud to support Quantron, as they bring new products to market that will allow customers to reduce their dependence on fossil fuels and support sustainability initiatives,” said Heidi Schutte, Allison Transmission’s vice president of sales for EMEA, APAC and South America.
“Allison’s e-Axles pair well with any source of energy in direct support of OEMs in the adoption of various electric vehicle solutions,” Schutte said.
