This photo, captured from Amogy’s website on Jan. 18, 2023, shows the Freightliner Cascadia powered by Amogy’s ammonia-based fuel cell system, during a recent test run conducted at Stony Brook University in New York. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Jan. 18 (Korea Bizwire) — Amogy Inc., a U.S. clean energy startup backed by South Korea’s SK Innovation Co., has successfully carried out a test-drive of a semitruck running on its ammonia-based fuel cell platform, in a scale-up of demonstrations for the next alternative renewable fuel.
Amogy tested a modified 2018 Freightliner Cascadia powered by its proprietary fuel cell system that directly turns liquid ammonia into hydrogen while on board, according to press releases by Amogy and SK on Wednesday.
The 900-kilowatt-hour truck was tested for several hours on the track at Stony Brook University in New York. The full charging of the fuel cell took about eight minutes.
The successful testing of the truck came less than two years after the Brooklyn-based startup, founded by four Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni, first presented its ammonia power solution with the test on a 5 kW drone in July 2021.
It later carried out another test on a 100 kW tractor in May 2022 before scaling the technology up to 300 kW.
Amogy’s technology enables the on-board cracking of ammonia into hydrogen, which is sent directly into a fuel cell to power the vehicle.
Liquid ammonia has an energy density about three times greater than compressed hydrogen, making it cost-effective to store and transport.
Amogy plans to carry out a full-scale test on the truck later this month, under a broader blueprint to expand the application of the ammonia-to-power solutions to shipping, including tugboats and barges.
SK Innovation, South Korea’s largest energy company, said in July last year it had invested US$30 million in Amogy.
(Yonhap)
