Toyota and Kenworth to build 18-wheelers powered by fuel cells

Las Vegas — Today at the CES tech show, Kenworth Trucks and Toyota announced a partnership to build 10 fuel cell-powered Kenworth 18-wheelers that will produce zero emissions.

The initiative is part of a larger collaboration with the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to install zero emissions cargo handling equipment at Port of Los Angeles by 2020.

CARB is kicking in $41 million for the project and the private sector partners are matching that amount. Toyota will provide the fuel cells, and Kenworth the trucks, which have around a 300 mile range, Toyota chief engineer Andrew Lund said.

The collaboration will help reduce emissions by 465 metric tons of greenhouse gases, and 0.72 weighted tons of nitrous oxide and particulate matter, according to the Port of Los Angeles.

Next to the Toyota Booth Peterbilt Motors Co., a division of Paccar Inc., had on display its first all-electric medium-duty truck.

The zero-emissions Model 220EV is equipped with two TransPower battery packs for a storage capacity of 148 kilowatt hours and a 100 mile range.

Six of those trucks are headed to a large beverage customer, a Paccar spokesperson said.