The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) announced a collaboration with the Department of Defense’s (DOD) U.S. Army Ground Vehicle Systems Center and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to develop and demonstrate “H2Rescue”—a hydrogen fuel cell-powered emergency relief truck.
This collaboration will enable increased resilience and clean energy capability for first responders conducting emergency relief and disaster management efforts. It will include a feasibility study and the development of a joint plan for demonstration to ensure the truck meets the needs of users in the emergency management field.
Over the last year, fires in California and various hurricanes on the East Coast and in the Caribbean, including the recent Hurricane Dorian in the Bahamas, have prompted interest in specialty disaster and emergency relief vehicles. The H2Rescue relief truck is a fuel cell vehicle that first responders and the military can drive to disaster mitigation sites. It can provide sufficient hydrogen to provide power, heat, and even potable water for up to 24 to 72 hours.
This announcement supports DOE’s H2@Scale initiative that enables affordable and reliable hydrogen generation, transport, storage, and utilization in the United States across multiple sectors. Collaborative opportunities to develop and demonstrate a first-of-its-kind emergency relief truck like the one announced can help identify technological gaps that feed back to DOE’s H2@Scale R&D in heavy- and medium-duty transportation applications.
The Army Corps of Engineers, with contributions from the EERE’s Fuel Cell Technologies Office and Vehicle Technologies Office and DOD, will issue a Request for Proposals (RFP) on H2Rescue this fall.
Source: U.S. Department of Energy
