Bosch joins forces with Nikola to help create the hydrogen truck

Every day we report news about new developments in the electric and hybrid segment; the latest announcements, concepts and short- and medium-term plans from car brands in this field are proof of that, with electric vehicles and, to a lesser extent, hydrogen ones taking on a bigger role. For now, however, when it comes to transport, I mean heavy-duty transport, progress is moving at a slower pace, although this could change soon.

For the moment, brands such as Mercedes-Benz or Tesla are already developing their own “zero-emission” trucks. On one hand we have Mercedes-Benz with its Urban eTruck, which has 167 CV per motor and a range of 200 km, and according to the latest news, the first units will reach their owners at the end of this year. On the other hand, we have Tesla, although for now everything surrounding it is shrouded in secrecy; but if they apply the same philosophy they use for their passenger cars, the result will be spectacular. As a counterpoint there is Toyota and its very interesting hydrogen truck, with 670 CV of power and 321 km of range; unfortunately we do not know whether it will reach production.

But if Toyota does not dare to produce its electric truck with a hydrogen motor, another brand will, although we will have to wait until 2021 for that. It will be in that year, if the plans do not go awry, when Nikola launches its One and Two models on the market. We have already told you about the first , and the second is the one you can see in the images. According to Nikola, it will be “the most advanced articulated truck ever built”, and to achieve this they have teamed up with Bosch in order to implement its technology.

Nikola’s trucks with hydrogen motors will be class 8, with a power output of more than 1,000 CV and a torque of 2,700 Nm. Its powertrain has been built from scratch using Bosch’s eAxle electric drive axle technology, based on a scalable modular platform made up of the SMG (Separate Motor Generator), the power electronics and the transmission in a compact unit.

But the collaboration does not end here, since the truck’s general controls will also be developed jointly, based on Bosch’s vehicle control software and hardware; the same will happen with the power transmission system, the safety concept and the vehicle’s electrical architecture. All of this, they assure, will deliver class-leading performance at a competitive price. We shall see.