Vision Tyrano Truck

The Vision Industries Tyrano Truck is a heavy duty vehicle weighing 80,000 lbs. that runs on a hydrogen fuel cell plus plug-in hybrid electric batteries.

The Tyrano truck was developed to haul cargo around the shipping ports in Los Angeles and Long Beach, California where smog from trucks is a considerable problem.

The Vision Tyrano truck (pictured above) uses compressed hydrogen gas for fuel and has a standard range of 200 miles (one tank on the side of the vehicle) or an extended range of 400 miles (with another tank on the other side). The Vision truck also uses regenerative braking to recapture energy and recharge the battery pack.

The Tyrano is a Class 8 truck that is considered a zero emissions vehicle, is three times as quiet as its diesel counterpart and delivers twice the torque. Operating costs of the Tyrano are 50-percent less and an LNG truck and 35-percent less than a diesel truck.

Most trucks around the Port of Los Angeles or Port of Long Beach do not exceed 200 miles in one day and this means that two or three hydrogen fueling stations per port would be all that is needed to support a fleet of Vision Tyrano vehicles. It also means the Tyrano will only need one refueling per 8 hour shift.

The State of California Senate has presented Vision Industries a Certificate of Recognition for Environmental Sustainability. The Vision Tyrano has also won the praise of California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and other environmental notables.

In 2011, the State of California has ordered that older, more polluting diesel trucks must be retrofitted or replaced in order to continue operation. It has been estimated that diesel trucks contribute 1/3 of all road related smog in California.

Vision Industries and Capacity of Texas, Inc. have teamed up to build a Zero Emissions Terminal Tractor (ZETT) that is pictured right and uses similar hydrogen fuel cell plug-in hybrid technology as the Tyrano truck.

Vision Industries has entered into two more partnership of interest. The first is with FedEx that will have one of its trucks retrofitted with the Tyrano Truck technology and tested for one year.

The second partnership is with Asemblon with the ambitions of creating a nationwide hydrogen refueling infrastructure at existing truck stops nationwide. Asemblon has created a hydrogen rich liquid chemical called Hydrnol that can be pumped into a special tank inside the truck.

Once inside, the hydrogen gas will be extracted, run through the fuel cell and the spent Hydrnol will go into a separate container to be pumped out during the next refueling. This means that some Tyrano trucks such as at the ports may be equipped with compressed hydrogen tanks while other long haul trucks may be equipped with a tank that accepts room-temperature hydrogen slurry that can be used for fuel.

Buyers of the Tyrano truck are eligible for a $40,000 federal tax credit and will meet or exceed all state and national standards for truck emissions.

 

Written by Hydro Kevin Kantola