Harnessing hydrogen: New test facility to support decarbonization of heavy-duty transportation

With hydrogen emerging as a key strategy to decarbonize transportation and combat climate change, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory is building a research and development (R&D) test facility to develop and independently test large-scale fuel cell systems for heavy-duty and off-road applications.

A fuel cell uses the chemical energy of hydrogen or other fuels to cleanly and efficiently produce electricity. When hydrogen is the fuel, the only products are electricity, water and heat. The Argonne facility will test fuel cell systems to be used in transportation applications including trucks, railroad locomotives, marine vessels, aircraft and vehicles used in the agriculture, construction and mining industries.

“Such capabilities leverage the national labs’ expertise and help to de-risk the technology before industry launches larger scale demonstrations and deployments.” — Sunita Satyapal, director, DOE Hydrogen Fuel Cell Technologies Office 

The Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office (HFTO) of DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy is funding approximately $4 million to support the effort. The goal is to improve the performance, durability, reliability and efficiency of heavy-duty fuel cell systems while lowering the cost.

When the facility comes online in fall 2025, industry will be able to access a dedicated location and support staff to test and validate polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell systems ranging from 150 to 600 kilowatts.

Few manufacturers have their own capacity to test and validate such large-scale fuel cell systems, and many have expressed interest in the ability of DOE national labs to provide such test capabilities. Argonne’s facility will emulate powertrains for all on- and off-road heavy-duty vehicles by operating in a hardware-in-the-loop environment leveraging the laboratory’s internationally recognized Autonomie software for application duty cycle commands.

“Providing the opportunity for independent, rigorous testing of first-of-a-kind, large-scale fuel cell systems will accelerate technology development and help identify challenges requiring further R&D,” said HFTO Director Sunita Satyapal. ​“Such capabilities leverage the national labs’ expertise and help to de-risk the technology before industry launches larger scale demonstrations and deployments.”

“The facility will serve as a national resource for analysis and testing of heavy-duty fuel cell systems for developers, technology integrators and end-users in heavy-duty transportation applications including trucks, railroad locomotives, marine vessels, aircraft and vehicles used in the agriculture, construction and mining industries,” said Ted Krause, laboratory relationship manager for Argonne’s hydrogen and fuel cell programs.

“The testing infrastructure will help advance fuel cell performance and pave the way toward integrating the technology into all of these transportation applications,” Krause said.

The project builds upon the laboratory’s extensive fuel cell research experience, including operation of the Argonne Fuel Cell Test Facility from 1996 to 2012. The laboratory has a strong track record in evaluating and developing state-of-the-art PEM fuel cell technologies for automotive and stationary power generation applications.

Argonne also coordinates a multitude of other transportation activities across the DOE’s Vehicle Technologies Office and other offices.

Argonne National Laboratory seeks solutions to pressing national problems in science and technology by conducting leading-edge basic and applied research in virtually every scientific discipline. Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit https://​ener​gy​.gov/​s​c​ience.