Hydra Energy, one of the world’s first Hydrogen-as-a-Service (HaaS™) providers for commercial fleets looking to reduce emissions with no upfront investment, has announced its second heavy-duty truck fleet customer, Veteran Express Secure Logistics (VEXSL). This follows on the heels of its initial milestone customer announcement with Lodgewood Enterprises back in October 2021 and marks the world’s first hydrogen-converted armoured vehicle.
VEXSL is a veteran-owned and operated transportation logistics service that uniquely merges the security of armoured vehicles with the high-volume transport nature of the freight industry to move climate-sensitive, high-risk, and high-value goods within British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan, Canada, and soon the US.
“At VEXSL, we provide purposeful career opportunities to the first responder and military veteran workforce and strive to incorporate the latest technology for safer, more secure supply chains,” said VEXSL CEO, Cole Fouillard. “Retrofitting our trucks to now lessen our impact on the environment is a natural next step in our continued commitment to the communities we serve and to the ESG goals we subscribe to. The best part is Hydra’s hydrogen truck conversions cost us nothing to implement, don’t negatively impact truck performance or warranties, and don’t require us to wait over a year for new trucks as they can retrofit existing ones.”
Hydra’s proprietary hydrogen-diesel, co-combustion injection systems will be installed at no cost to VEXSL. In exchange, VEXSL agrees to a long-term, low-carbon hydrogen fuel contract that includes fuelling infrastructure where trucks will refuel just as quickly as diesel. The contracted hydrogen will be priced at the forecasted diesel equivalent meaning the fleets’ operational costs should not increase. Additionally, each truck will reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by up to 67 tpy with no loss in fuel efficiency, range, power, torque, or payload capacity – even in the cold Canadian winters. This comes as GHG emissions fast approach pre-pandemic levels thanks in large part to increased freight pollution.
“Alberta was a natural next step for our HaaS offering to connect from our Prince George hub further east into Canada along trucking routes,” said Hydra Energy CEO, Jessica Verhagen. “We applaud the Alberta government’s efforts to enable further demonstration of the use of hydrogen in heavy-duty transportation, recognising that transportation markets have the potential to rapidly scale their decarbonisation efforts with Hydra’s commercially-available technology once increased refuelling infrastructure is in place.”
“Working with Hydra and VEXSL is just one example of the Alberta Motor Transport Association’s (AMTA) zero-emissions mobility strategy,” added Amanda Mesluk, Manager, Research and Innovation with the AMTA. “We are excited to offer technology and fuel options to our carrier members interested in exploring a hydrogen landscape. We support all our partners in working towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions in Alberta and beyond.”