Fossil fuel-powered trucks are only about 4 percent of the vehicles on the road but are responsible for over half the smog-forming pollution from the transportation sector and a quarter of the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Now, to end dependence on transport powered by fossil fuels, Amogy, a US clean energy start-up has rolled out “the world’s first ammonia-powered, zero-emission semi-truck.”
Brooklyn company Amogy was founded in 2020 for the development of green ammonia as a power source for clean transport.
Amogy tested a modified 2018 Freightliner Cascadia truck powered by its fuel cell system that directly turns liquid ammonia into hydrogen for several hours on the campus of Stony Brook University. The company says this proves ammonia to be a viable, sustainable solution in decarbonizing heavy-duty trucking which has been challenging.
The fuel system fills up in eight minutes to hold around 900 kWh of energy, roughly the same amount of energy as the Tesla Semi stores in its lithium battery packs. But it has 5X higher system-level energy density compared to lithium batteries, which makes it significantly lighter than the Tesla.
Why liquid ammonia?
Liquid ammonia has greater energy density than compressed hydrogen. Also, it’s much more cost-effective to store and transport.
Amogy’s technology is an easily accessible and scalable solution for trucking
With enough energy density needed for larger vehicles to cover long-distance routes, Amogy’s ammonia-powered truck can enable the industry’s transition away from diesel-powered engines to alternative fuel-to-power technologies.
