Canadian Ballard Power Systems and German Quantron AG have announced an important partnership on the first day of IAA Mobility 2021 The two global companies will soon start their cooperation with the aim of developing hydrogen fuel cell electric truck platforms. According to the initial framework, Quantron, whose new CEO was announced will integrate Ballard’s latest generation FCmove heavy-duty fuel cell power modules into its electric truck platforms. Fuel cell electric truck platforms currently in development include a 7.5 tons delivery truck, a 44 tons heavy duty truck and a municipal waste collection truck.
Initial deployment of fuel cell electric trucks is scheduled for the second half of 2022. The agreement is backed by the fact that in Europe various government subsidies and incentives will be available to vehicle fleet operators. Specifically, Germany has recently committed to covering up to 80% of conversion costs from internal combustions engines to alternative drives through the e-mobility support program.
Ballard and Quantron: statements from the top managements
«This is another important milestone for Quantron’s global growth. The cooperation with Ballard enables us to bring customised hydrogen commercial vehicles with fuel cell electric drives to the market. Today we embark on a journey of joint development and production of fuel cell electric commercial vehicles», said Andreas Haller, founder and Chairman of Quantron.
«Ballard is looking forward to collaborating with Quantron to accelerate the adoption of fuel cell technology for truck applications. The combination of both companies’ expertise will deliver high performance hydrogen trucks to respond to the growing demand for zero emission vehicles from fleet operators and unlock new business opportunities for medium and heavy-duty fuel cell trucks in Germany. Ballard is bringing its eight generation of heavy-duty fuel cell power module experience built upon over 85 million km’s of road service from over 3,500 buses and trucks powered by our leading PEM technology today», added Robert Campbell, Chief Customer Officer of Ballard Power Systems.
