The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022, passed and signed into law in August by President Joe Biden, represents the largest climate investment in U.S. history – and likely a momentous acceleration of hydrogen and fuel cell adoption.

There is growing consensus that hydrogen will play a critical role in addressing some of the most intractable clean energy challenges of our time. As a provider of hydrogen fuel cell technology, Nuvera believes that the IRA has the potential to position the US as the leader of the clean energy revolution.

Meet Nuvera’s director of marketing and corporate development, Gus Block. Gus is engaged in global marketing, new business development, government affairs, and strategic planning initiatives that help drive positive outcomes for Nuvera, its industry partners, and society at large. As you’ll discover, he is also a lifelong thing-maker.

In 2022 Gus was named to the Environment+Energy Leader 100, an annual list that recognizes the environment and energy “doers” who craft new solutions, programs, platforms, best practices and products. Gus is among the Nuvera founding members that are still with the company 22 years later, and has had a variety of roles including systems engineering, product development, project management, and industry advocacy.

We asked Gus about his current focus at Nuvera, his views on fuel cell industry trends, and the activities he enjoys pursuing (besides being a card-carrying hydrogen revolutionary).

Matt Weig is the platform leader for the Nuvera E-Series Fuel Cell Engine flagship product line. Matt brings more than two decades of manufacturing engineering, product development, and business experience to the company, which he joined in 2017. We asked Matt to describe how his team engages in the process of continuous improvement for Nuvera’s fuel cell power systems for medium- and heavy-duty transportation and industrial applications.

We are at a major turning point in the global clean energy transformation. With the passage of recent landmark legislation, the US is poised to embark on its most ambitious program to date to decarbonize the economy. This makes it more important than ever to cultivate the next generation of scientists, engineers, and other leaders in the hydrogen energy field. To provide students with direct industry knowledge and experience as they prepare to enter the workforce, Nuvera administers a highly structured co-op program that affords a deep dive into advanced clean transportation technology fields, and also provides opportunities for students to pursue their individual interests and direct their own hands-on education.

With more than 25 years’ experience designing and validating fuel cell systems for myriad real-world applications, and now on its eighth generation of fuel cell stack architecture, Nuvera’s engineering team is sharing much of what it has learned about best practices in fuel cell system design. This paper draws on lessons learned over the years and questions that arise frequently with our customers and partners.

Port and maritime applications are in the vanguard as drivers for accelerating hydrogen adoption. Container handling and other diesel equipment used around the clock at shipping ports are a source of significant local air pollution and greenhouse gases, compounded by emissions from heavy-duty trucks that travel within and beyond port boundaries and from vessels approaching from the sea or used in the harbor.

Lucien Robroek, Nuvera’s president and CEO, took center stage at the World Hydrogen Summit at the Port of Rotterdam in May 2022 for a session entitled Hydrogen & Maritime: Solutions, Innovations & Timescales. Equipped with green hydrogen infrastructure, ports will be at the epicenter of global clean energy transformation. Hydrogen-powered vehicles meet the intensive duty cycles, unpredictable and long-distance routes, charging infrastructure uncertainty, and high auxiliary power requirements of many heavy-duty work cycles associated with port operations.

A Conversation with Ralph Clague, Chief Development Officer

Ralph Clague joined Nuvera in October 2021 as Chief Development Officer. We asked him about his background, interests, and vision for Nuvera’s technology and production evolution.

Curious how customers incorporate fuel cells into their products as Nuvera fuel cell engines are being introduced into vehicle platforms around the world? Check out this Q&A with our applications development team to learn about how they enable successful integrations:

Q&A with Nuvera’s applications development engineer in China, Marvin Rao

Non-road mobile machinery operators are facing significant emission reduction mandates, especially in heavily populated environments. Finding the right solution for specific uses requires evaluation of new propulsion technologies that match equipment operational requirements, identification of the most promising options for the application, meeting code requirements, pilot testing, and ultimately adoption of the most viable emission-free solutions. Starting from scratch, this process can involve several years of planning and development by equipment manufacturers.

A transition to clean power systems that meets not just value, innovation and performance needs of the application, but also maps to the specific performance requirements of non-road vehicles and equipment, is key to successful adoption of the right technology.

Governments around the world are banning commercial diesel and gasoline internal combustion engine trucks. While electric trucks (eTrucks) are the clear path forward, there are a variety of use cases and vehicle availability requirements that affect the best powertrain choices. In fact, the best solutions for a particular application might not involve plugging in at all, according to a recent report by McKinsey and Company.

The report, “Why most eTrucks will choose overnight charging” (October 2020), addresses the charging needs for medium- and heavy-duty electric truck platforms. McKinsey estimates that eTruck adoption will exceed 30 percent by 2030, and this will require the alignment of multiple factors, including regulation, eTruck supply, and electric powertrain, and other technology improvements.

As the world moves toward net-zero carbon in all energy-consuming sectors, the International Energy Agency and many other organizations, countries, and corporations consider hydrogen an essential component of the emerging energy mix and a viable alternative to diesel, the conventional fuel used worldwide for medium- and heavy-duty surface transport.

Hydrogen will play several critical roles in this rapidly evolving transition – as a large-scale energy storage medium, as a low- or zero-carbon energy “currency,” as a feedstock for green steel, and as a transportation fuel.

Nuvera was a proud sponsor and participant in H2 View’s recent Mobility Pillar Special, and our CEO Lucien Robroek was the featured speaker at the March 12 event. “Hydrogen power delivered to vehicles via fuel cell engines is key to achieving a net-zero carbon transportation future, so this topic is a great fit for us,” Lucien said afterwards.

“Mobility is a critical strand of the clean energy transition, with a lot of positive mileage for hydrogen,” as H2 View’s Managing Editor Rob Cockerill, put it. “And we are not just talking about covering distance over land. With hydrogen mobility we are also talking about transport by river, oceans, and air.

“Right now is most definitely the decade of the fuel cell.”

In February, Nuvera announced the expansion of its hydrogen fuel cell engine testing capabilities with the commissioning of the Nuvera® Fuel Cell Engine Test Module (ETM) in Osio, Italy near our offices in Milan. This fully-equipped testing ground is unique in the industry and highlights our ongoing commitment to providing OEMs with the technology needed to build high-performance, zero-emission vehicles.

Our team dedicated significant time and resources to the multi-year effort to design and construct the automated ETM facility. Our aim is to advance the possibilities of hydrogen-powered vehicles as a solution to the zero-emission motive power needs of vehicle manufacturers and their fleet customers.

To explain its significance for our customers, we asked Giampaolo Sibilia, director of Nuvera EU operations, to give a behind-the-scenes look at what the project involved.

Transportation is currently the number one source of global warming pollution in the U.S. and is motivating nationwide efforts to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Carbon-intensive medium- and heavy-duty trucking has come under particular scrutiny because of the disproportionately high impact of diesel usage.

This past year has been transformative for the fuel cell industry, with significant strides made toward reaching clean mobility at a global scale. From this time last year to today, our industry has achieved so much. Today, on National Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Day, we celebrate the many industry milestones over the past year, and our own achievements here at Nuvera.