FCC Medio Ambiente and the Irizar Group have presented today in the framework of the Smart City Expo World Congress, H2TRUCK, the first electric chassis-platform manufactured entirely in Spain for heavy urban service vehicles, powered by a hydrogen fuel cell, the first of its kind in the world.

The vehicle presented, which can be seen in situ at FCC Medio Ambiente's stand D-185 at Tomorrow Mobility, is a 100% operational and functional prototype, which has been undergoing tests for months on real waste collection routes in various cities in Spain.  The first implementation of the chassis has been carried out on a 21-m3, three-axle side-loading collector-compactor with a maximum permissible mass of 29 tonnes, with an ultra-low, forward cabin of urban design and an all-electric propulsion and body drive system, which will perform the entire service in pure electric mode from the moment it leaves the vehicle fleet until it returns to it.

This project has been selected as a finalist in the Global Smart City Awards of the Smart City Expo World Congress for the 2024 edition, in the category ‘Energy and Urban Environment’.

The vehicle has been materialised through the H2TRUCK project, led by FCC Medio Ambiente and developed with the Irizar Group with the collaboration of companies and academic and technological entities of great relevance in the automotive sector.

The urban vehicle of the future is possible today 

The event was opened by Íñigo Sanz, CEO of FCC Servicios Medio Ambiente, the backbone of the FCC Group's environmental activities, who highlighted this project as ‘an example of teamwork and the importance of innovation, which has been in the DNA of this company for more than 110 years, to achieve the objectives of our 2050 Sustainability Strategy, a roadmap for business development based on sustainable growth’.  For his part, Imanol Rego, CEO of the Irizar Group, stressed that ‘at Irizar we want to be a key player in the sustainable mobility of the future. To this end, we are focusing all our efforts on decarbonisation, the electrification of cities and the reduction of consumption and emissions from our vehicles. We are clear that the future will be multi-technological and we are prepared for it. Proof of this is the Irizar ietruck’.

Antonio Bravo, Head of Machinery at FCC Medio Ambiente, and Josu Letona, Head of the Truck Business at Irizar, explained the technical details of this platform.

Antonio Bravo pointed out that FCC's aim was to “develop a chassis-platform for urban service vehicles with 100% electric traction, plug-in and powered by a fuel cell that generates electricity by the chemical reaction produced between hydrogen and oxygen. It is a versatile and modular chassis, adaptable to any application related to urban services” . In this sense, and although the prototype has been applied to a side-loading waste collector, this versatility ‘will allow the use of hydrogen cell technology in the future for any configuration of urban services, both waste collection and street cleaning or sewerage, among others’, he highlighted.

Josu Letona stressed that ‘the hydrogen fuel cell can alleviate the main drawback of current pure electric vehicles with intensive work, i.e. the balance between autonomy and productivity. In cities with more intensive work in two or three shifts in a row (as is the case in Barcelona, for example), the range and recharging times of pure electric vehicles are a limitation. However, this drawback is solved with the hydrogen cell technology platform we have developed. Providing a very good balance between payload, range, vehicle manoeuvrability and recharging times, in short, a significant improvement in the efficiency of heavy municipal equipment is achieved’.

During the presentation, it was also emphasised that this is the first chassis-platform designed and created specifically for urban service activities, as opposed to other heavy-duty vehicles that have existed until now, adapted from solutions designed for distribution and transport.

The first implementation of the platform has been developed for a collection vehicle with a state-of-the-art side-loading bodywork. The prototype vehicle is already in operation and has been undergoing test runs for a few months, with an H2 battery that enables the waste collection service to be carried out without polluting emissions. With a comparatively small battery, it significantly improves on the limitations of ‘pure’ electric vehicles (charging times, limited range, weight of large batteries, etc.).

Another advantage is the reduction of noise emissions to a minimum, the low carbon footprint and its energy efficiency, saving more than 50% compared to internal combustion vehicles.

In addition, and compared to current battery-powered electric vehicles, the implementation of a hydrogen fuel cell brings many operational and sustainability advantages:

• Significant reduction in battery size, which makes the vehicle lighter and therefore saves energy while improving the carbon footprint.
• Increased payload due to weight reduction; fewer vehicles can provide the same service.
• Greatly extended vehicle range and vastly reduced recharging times.

The design is rounded off by the highest safety conditions achieved to date. Visibility is considerably increased, reaching the same level as that of a city bus with a panoramic front windscreen, equipped with cameras that allow practically total visibility. In conclusion, it is a ‘connected’ vehicle with the highest level of safety. The cabin is thermally and acoustically insulated and is assembled on anti-vibration elements for complete isolation of the surroundings.

It is therefore the urban vehicle of the future, efficient and valid for any city or type of municipal service.

This technology is perfectly aligned with the Excellence axis of the company's Sustainability Strategy 2050. The project, which began at the end of 2021 and has met the planned development milestones, has received state recognition and support through the PTAS programme (Sustainable Automotive Technology Programme), within the framework of the subsidies granted by the Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI) and supported by the Ministry of Science and Innovation, as part of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan financed by the European Union.

About FCC Medio Ambiente

FCC Medio Ambiente is the area of the FCC Group that provides environmental services to 67 million people in more than 5,400 municipalities in eleven countries, from comprehensive urban and industrial waste management to all types of municipal services (waste collection, street cleaning, maintenance of green spaces, etc.). Innovation is in the DNA of FCC Medio Ambiente, which developed its first 100% electric collection truck in 1974. It currently has a fleet of 20,000 vehicles, including more than 3,600 sustainable units, 1,600 of which are electric.

The FCC Group has more than 120 years of experience in the provision of Citizen Services. It is a world leader in environmental services, integrated water management and infrastructure development and construction. It currently employs over 67,000 people and is present in more than 30 countries. In the 2023 financial year, turnover exceeded 9,000 million euros, 57.3% of which was international.

About Irizar

Founded in 1889, Irizar is a business group with an international presence that operates in the passenger transport, electromobility, electronics, electric motors and generators, connectivity and energy sectors. The Group is made up of seven brands that carry out their production activity in 13 plants in Spain, Morocco, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa. It also has its own R&D Centre, Creatio, based in Ormaiztegi, Spain.

Sustainability has for years been one of the fundamental pillars of the Group's strategy for the future, which drives and commits it to work to contribute to building a better world. As such, it offers a complete range of sustainable and efficient vehicles, including the Irizar ietruck truck.
As a key player in the sustainable mobility of the future, it has a complete range of vehicles ranging from 100% electric vehicles to diesel, HVO, natural biogas (CNG and LNG), hybrids and hydrogen.