The decarbonization of road freight transport relies on key technological choices. While hydrogen and fuel cells are often highlighted, another component plays an equally essential role in the performance and reliability of hydrogen trucks: the battery.
For its second generation of hydrogen retrofit trucks, Hyliko has chosen to leverage the expertise of Wattalps, a renowned French company specializing in the design of high-voltage batteries for demanding industrial applications. This technological collaboration is central to the energy architecture of Hyliko vehicles.
A key role in hydrogen architecture
Contrary to popular belief, a hydrogen fuel cell truck is a hybrid electric vehicle, combining:
- A fuel cell, which produces electricity from hydrogen
- Batteries, which store energy and support the system when high power is needed.
Batteries thus play a central role: they provide power during acceleration, store excess energy produced by the fuel cell, and recover energy during braking or deceleration phases.
Why Hyliko chose Wattalps
In this joint interview, Hyliko and Wattalps discuss the reasons for this partnership. Wattalps’ choice was based on several key criteria:
- Robustness and reliability are essential for intensive heavy transport applications.
- Safety, with batteries designed to meet the most demanding industrial requirements. This battery system is notably the first in the world to be approved by the German Federal Motor Transport Authority (Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt, KBA) according to the UN R100 Revision 5 standard; the latest and most demanding global standard governing the safety of rechargeable energy storage systems for vehicles.
- Adaptability and modularity, allowing for optimized integration into a hydrogen retrofit architecture
- French industrial expertise, consistent with Hyliko’s desire to structure a local and sovereign sector.
Thanks to this collaboration, Hyliko’s second generation of hydrogen-powered retrofit trucks benefits from an optimized energy architecture, intelligently combining hydrogen and electricity.
The result: quiet vehicles with zero tailpipe emissions, offering a smooth driving experience and high performance.
This partnership with Wattalps illustrates Hyliko’s vision: to leverage complementary expertise to develop concrete solutions capable of accelerating the energy transition of road transport today.
