Hydrogen

GM has scrapped plans to build $55 million hydrogen fuel cell factory in Detroit, triggering a tsunami of headlines about the General’s future plans for hydrogen. The reality? GM isn’t scaling back its hydrogen efforts. It’s thinking bigger.

Japanese equipment giant Kubota has pulled the wraps off a world’s first. The new, Autonomous Fuel Cell Tractor packs electric drive motors powered by a hydrogen fuel cell — one that can get topped off with hydrogen made from farm waste!

There’s an odd irony in utility-scale construction: working for the power company doesn’t always mean you have power. That lack of accessible grid power makes it tough to fully decarbonize some construction sites, no matter how committed they are to reducing emissions. That’s where Hitachi Energy’s new HyFlex hydrogen generator comes in, offering off-grid charging without the harmful emissions of diesel.

It’s been a decidedly weird month in the heavy truck world, and it just keeps getting weirder. Hydrogen shipping startup Hyroad Energy has acquired Nikola Motor’s hydrogen assets and IP, including 113 HFCEV semis, spare parts, and refueling infrastructure.

Aviation startup ZeroAvia says it’s been granted a “raft” of 45 new patents key to the development of practical large hydrogen aviation engines – and the company says it has 200 more H-related patents in the pipeline!

Scotland’s Loganair is charting a new, hydrogen-powered course for sustainable aviation, partnering with ZeroAvia to develop new, zero-emissions offerings that could see the airline’s 40-80 passenger capacity aircraft operate emission-free on regional routes across the UK and Europe.

Honda came to this year’s ACT Expo in Anaheim, California with the perfect follow-up to the jaw-dropping hydrogen fuel cell-powered semi truck they showed off last year. This year, the company’s fuel cell is in series production – and available now.

ACT Expo is North America’s premier clean truck and transport trade show – and for 2025 it was bigger than ever, with more exhibitors and more, more capable battery electric vehicles than ever. The downsides? NACFE have scored with their “messy middle” messaging, and the return of “clean diesel” talking points.

On today’s hyped up hydrogen episode of Quick Charge, we look at some of the fuel’s recent failures and billion dollar bungles as the fuel cell crowd continues to lose the credibility race against a rapidly evolving battery electric market.

Multiple reports have both South Korean firm Doosan and American company Air Products backing out of a number of nine-figure hydrogen fuel cell deals, with more than $1 billion across five contracts canceled in the past few weeks alone.

In a joint statement, French and German economists have called on governments to adopt “a common approach” to decarbonize European trucking fleets – and they’re calling for a focus on fully electric trucks, not hydrogen.

Whoever is left at Nikola after the fledgling truck-maker filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last month is probably having a worse week than you – the company issued a recall with the NHTSA for 95 of its hydrogen fuel cell-powered semi trucks.

In another highly visible failure for hydrogen in the real-world, all 25 of the fuel cell-powered buses in the Poznan, Poland fleet failed at the same time yesterday morning, forcing the city to scramble diesel buses into action.

French hydrogen firm Hyvia has been given a stay of execution. The Commercial Court of Versaille has given Hyvia a few extra weeks to get through its insolvency proceedings and find a buyer – but, frankly, it ain’t lookin’ good.

Clean energy investments took a serious hit in January, sinking to their lowest point since the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) supercharged the industry with tax credits and incentives. Growing uncertainty around the future of these policies – especially with the Republican-majority Congress debating potential rollbacks – has led to a sharp drop in new projects and an increase in cancellations, reports E2.

HD Hyundai is set to unveil a production version of its hydrogen fuel cell powered HW155H 14-ton wheeled excavator – one of ten updated or all-new machines rumored to making their debut at this year’s Bauma construction trade show.

GM has deployed three of its HYDROTEC hydrogen gensets to the Los Angeles area as a way to help generate power for EV drivers and emergency vehicles recovering from the devastating effects of the recent wildfires.

The board of directors of the troubled hydrogen fuel cell maker has voted to dissolve the company that developed the first HFC garbage truck to North America last spring, pending shareholder approval.

On today’s high-powered episode of Quick Charge, we’ve got Honda fuel cell manager David Perzynski here to talk about Honda’s forty year history developing hydrogen powertrains, and the role Honda sees for HFCEVs in a battery dominated world.

Just when you thought it was safe to count out hydrogen as a viable competitor to battery-electric power in the North American medium– and heavy-duty trucking space, the new Hyundai XCIENT HFCEV Class 8 semi truck arrives in Georgia — and immediately gets to work.

Cash-strapped hydrogen truck maker Nikola is facing tough times — and its most recent round of layoffs has halted production of its controversial hydrogen fuel cell semi trucks as the company faces down bankruptcy (again).