Hydra Energy secures CAD$15M to convert existing heavy-duty trucks to run on green hydrogen
by CM Staff
The green hydrogen used by Hydra is sourced from waste hydrogen, a by-product of various manufacturing processes.
Hydra hydrogen-fuelled truck.
DELTA — Hydra Energy has secured CAD$15 million (USD $12 million) from Just Business to expand beyond pilots and deliver hydrogen-powered trucking. This funding is to support the further development of Hydra’s initial waste hydrogen capture plant in British Columbia, its fueling infrastructure, and conversion kits in the company’s quest to make hydrogen transport a reality. This funding round brings Hydra’s total raised to date to CAD $22 million (USD $17.2 million).
After completing extensive on-road testing by professional drivers on commercial routes covering over 200,000 km, Hydra’s flagship HaaS project is scheduled to break ground later this year.
Hydra’s offers truck fleets and commodity haulers Hydrogen-as-a-Service (HaaS), including hydrogen-diesel, dual-injection conversion kits and green hydrogen fuel at fixed discount, five percent lower than their existing diesel costs with no up-front investment. With transportation currently responsible for the fastest growth in CO2 emissions accounting for 24 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, trucking being one of the fastest growing sectors, and zero-emission semi-truck advancements slow to commercialize, Hydra aims to create an economical, low-risk, scalable solution using existing trucks and resources to decarbonize the trucking industry.
“One of the most important industries to be decarbonized is transportation,” said David Batstone, Senior Managing Partner and co-founder of Just Business. “We have full confidence in Hydra’s innovative technology and business model, which is why we invested in an early stage company. We believe that improving this traditionally diesel-heavy industry harnesses the potential of clean fuel now and will help pave the world for the hydrogen revolution in the future. It’s the best opportunity we see for commercial fleets to significantly reduce emissions in the near term, without sacrificing any of their truck’s performance or payloads. At the same time, these fleets can reap the economic and environmental benefits in the transportation sector today.”
Hydra’s plug-and-play dual-injection system injects this hydrogen directly into the truck’s air intake so that as it pulls for air, it also pulls for hydrogen. Unlike other hydrogen truck offerings, the company offers an end-to-end HaaS solution with long-term fuel contracts at a fixed discount below the cost of what fleet customers pay for diesel.
Hydra also installs green hydrogen fueling stations on-site at no cost to the fleet owner. The green hydrogen used by Hydra is sourced from waste hydrogen, a by-product of various manufacturing processes. Rather than venting this element into the atmosphere, Hydra works with reliable partners such as Chemtrade, to capture the gas for consumption by its fleet customers.
Prior to this funding, Hydra Energy received CAD $7 million (USD $5.2 million) in seed funding from private investors and government support from the Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC), the Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC-IRAP), and InnovateBC.
