Volvo Creates New Unit to Develop Fuel Cells

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olvo Technology, a unit of the Volvo Group, has created a new company jointly owned with Statoil that will develop fuel cells for truck idling.

The new company, Powercell, holds a patent on an improved fuel cell technology that makes it possible to produce small power units that can be mounted on trucks and other vehicles to replace idling, Volvo said in a release Monday from its Goteborg, Sweden headquarters.

The fuel cell is powered by hydrogen gas, produced from diesel that is already onboard the truck, Volvo said.

According to the Department of Energy, a power unit equipped with fuel cell technology could reduce carbon dioxide emissions from a single truck by as much as 20 to 30 tons annually.

Using Truck Manufacturers Association statistics of 500,000 heavy trucks in North America, that could lead to savings of about 15 million tons of carbon dioxide per year, Volvo said.