MPREIS orders 70 Hyzon hydrogen fuel cell trucks

The supermarket chain from Austria aims to produce H2 using Austrian hydropower.

Austrian supermarket chain MPREIS has announced that it is ordering 70 Hyzon Motors hydrogen fuel cell trucks. It will also be building its own electrolysis facility close to Innsbruck, powered by hydroelectricity.

The company will then construct a network of H2 refueling stations to distribute the fuel it produces.

The H2 refueling station network will serve its 300 stores throughout Austria and will provide a location for the hydrogen fuel cell trucks to refuel.

“MPREIS prioritizes sustainable products on the shelves of our stores, so ensuring that those products are transported in an environmentally-friendly manner is not only a logical extension, but central to our corporate initiatives,” said MPREIS Member of the Board of Directors Julie Therese Molk.

Both MPREIS and Hyzon Motors also signed a letter of intent for collaboration in the H2Alpin study. That research is designed to demonstrate the viability of fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) for meeting alpine mobility demands. This includes navigating steep grades and managing in extreme weather conditions.

The first delivery of hydrogen fuel cell trucks is slated to occur in the last quarter of this year.

The first batch of vehicles will involve tractor/puller and rigid chassis designs. They will be created for supporting refrigeration units. The vehicles will be constructed in the Netherlands’ Groningen area at Hyzon Motors’ European facility.

In the meantime, MPREIS is constructing a 4MW pressurized alkaline electrolizer near Innsbruck in Vols, under the Demo4Grid project which has EU backing. The plant will receive its supply from Switzerland’s IHT (Industrie Haute Technologie) and will contribute to regional electricity network regulation while producing renewable hydrogen fuel.

“The goal is to provide grid balancing services to the transmission system operator APG (primary and secondary balancing services), to participate in TIWAG’s intra-day and spot markets to generate cost-competitive hydrogen as well as to use surplus hydro-power energy from a station currently near to the electrolysis plant,” read a statement to the Horizon 2020 EU research program.

Hyzon has also announced a hydrogen fuel cell trucks order for 20 vehicles on May 29 from Jan Bakker Transport and Millenaar & van Schaik subsidiaries.