HD Hyundai set to debut production 14 ton hydrogen wheeled excavator
HD Hyundai is set to unveil a production version of its hydrogen fuel cell powered HW155H 14-ton wheeled excavator – one of ten updated or all-new machines rumored to making their debut at this year’s Bauma construction trade show.
Wheeled excavators are having something of a resurgence in the equipment space these days – and with good reason. The machines are easily deployable by municipalities, can navigate urban and suburban environments with ease, and can be fitted with a broad range of accessories to make jobs from digging to demolition to landscaping possible (and, if any of you Steelwrist guys are reading this … that thing’s cool). And it’s those same municipalities that are holding the line on emissions and environmental regulations, and more often than not the people who have to hear about it when the noise of a conventional ICE-powered job site upsets Mrs. Klancik’s terrier.
HD Hyundai is leaning into the wheeled excavator rennaisance with its new HW155H, a quiet, zero-emission asset that can reportedly send between 70 and 100 kW of power to a series of electric motors that should be good for up to eight hours of continuous operation between each twenty-minute refill.
A static version of the HW155H was shown at Bauma in 2022, when the concept was first announced. At the time, HD Hyundai offered a number of calculations (some more credible than others) to highlight the potential impact a hydrogen-powered excavator might have on a given fleet. You can see that for yourself here, or check out the most relevant graph (I think), below.
HD Hyundai hydrogen excavator impact
One of the reasons the upcoming HD Hyundai is so eagerly anticipated is that the original concept won Platinum Prize at the 2024 LACP Inspire Awards as recently as last month.
The award, issued by a globally recognized rating agency, validates HD Hyundai’s commitment to ESG management, and follows on from 2023’s Presidential Award for Corporate Innovation hosted by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and its selection as an ESG Leading Company by the Korea Institute of Corporate Governance and Sustainability.
Electrek’s Take
South Korea is especially committed to hydrogen as a fuel. So much so, in fact, that the nation’s government has Hyundai putting the stuff in semi trucks, forklifts, and even military vehicles. The thing is, it’s highly unlikely that hydrogen will ever become a mainstream alternative to battery power – at least when it comes to on-road transportation.
All of which is to say: while the HW155H (that second “H” is for “hydrogen”) looks pretty cool, but the sure to follow shortly thereafter HW155E (for “electric”) is going to look a whole lot more like something that makes sense for your fleet.
SOURCE | IMAGES: Hyundai, via Power Progress.
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Germany’s largest offshore wind farm under construction, EnBW’s He Dreiht, just hit a big milestone: The first enormous turbine is now up in the North Sea.
He Dreiht – which means “it spins” in Low German – is using Vestas’s massive 15 megawatt (MW) turbines, the first project in the world to install them. Just one spin of one of the rotors can generate enough electricity to power four households for an entire day.
When it’s finished, He Dreiht will have 64 mega turbines cranking out 960 megawatts (MW) of clean power – enough to supply around 1.1 million homes. And it’s being built without any government subsidies.
EnBW, one of Germany’s major energy companies, has been working in offshore wind for more than 15 years, but He Dreiht is their biggest project yet. “It will play a key role in helping us to significantly grow our renewable energy output from 6.6 GW to over 10 GW by 2030,” said Michael Class, who heads up EnBW’s generation portfolio development.
The project is a win for Vestas, too. “With the installation of the first V236-15.0 MW, we have reached an important milestone for both the He Dreiht project and our offshore ramp-up, which helps Germany build a more secure, affordable, and sustainable energy system,” said Nils de Baar, president of Vestas Northern & Central Europe.
He Dreiht is located about 85 kilometers (53 miles) northwest of Borkum and 110 kilometers (68 miles) west of Helgoland. At peak times, more than 500 workers will be out at sea building the farm, using a fleet of more than 60 ships. EnBW’s offshore team in Hamburg is running the show.
The installation process is a major operation. The 64 foundations were already set in the seabed last year. Parts for the turbines are loaded onto the installation vessel Wind Orca in Esbjerg, Denmark, and shipped out in a 12-hour journey to the construction site. From there, the turbines are lifted into place. Meanwhile, crews are also working on internal wind farm cabling.
A partner consortium made up of Allianz Capital Partners, AIP, and Norges Bank Investment Management owns 49.9% of the shares in He Dreiht.
Read more: Trump admin halts $5 billion NY offshore wind project mid-build
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Tesla has released a quick update about its Tesla Semi factory in Nevada. It says that it is on track for volume production of the electric semi truck in 2026.
The Tesla Semi was first scheduled to go into production in 2019, but it has faced numerous delays.
Now, it appears that there is finally some momentum to bring it to volume production.
For the last two years, Tesla has been working to build a new factory next to Gigafactory Nevada, where it builds the battery packs and drive units for most of its electric vehicles built in North America.
Today, Tesla released a “progress update on the factory, confirming that it finished building and it’s now working on deploying the production lines:
Tesla had previously mentioned aiming for volume production by 2025, but it is now only talking about starting production toward the end of the year and ramping up next year.
The automaker reiterated its planned production capacity of 50,000 units.
We recently reported that an early Tesla Semi customer, Ryder, stated that the electric truck program is experiencing more delays and a price increase described as “dramatic.”
They now expect to take deliveries of their first trucks later in 2026 and said that the price has increased “dramatically,” leading them to scale back their pilot program from 42 to 18 Tesla Semi trucks.
When originally unveiling the Tesla Semi in 2017, the automaker mentioned prices of $150,000 for a 300-mile range truck and $180,000 for the 500-mile version. Tesla also took orders for a “Founder’s Series Semi” at $200,000.
However, Tesla didn’t update the prices when launching the “production version” of the truck in late 2022. Price increases have been speculated, but the company has never confirmed them.
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Vietnamese solar panel maker Boviet Solar just opened the doors to its first US factory — a huge new PV module plant in Greenville, North Carolina.
The company dropped $294 million into the state-of-the-art facility, which will pump out Boviet’s Gamma Series monofacial and Vega Series bifacial solar panels. They’re using advanced PERC and N-Type solar cell tech, which basically means these panels are built to deliver higher efficiency and better performance across residential, commercial, industrial, and utility-scale projects.
The Greenville factory’s first phase is now online with an annual PV module output capacity of 2 gigawatts (GW). For Phase 2, which is scheduled to come online in the second half of 2026, Boviet will invest another $100 million to add 600,000 square feet and ramp up to another 2 GW. It will make high-efficiency solar cells.
Once both phases are complete, Boviet’s campus will cover more than 1 million square feet of manufacturing and R&D space. It’s one of the biggest clean energy manufacturing projects North Carolina has ever seen.
The jobs impact is significant, too. The first phase will create 460 skilled local jobs. Phase 2 is expected to add another 908, bringing the total to over 1,300 direct jobs, plus nearly 2,000 more indirect jobs across the region. That’s good news for Pitt County’s economy, real estate market, and workforce training programs.
“This facility is not just creating jobs, but creating opportunity, innovation, and a stronger foundation for eastern North Carolina,” said Senator Kandie Smith. Governor Josh Stein added that Boviet Solar’s move shows how North Carolina is leading the way in clean energy growth.
Read more: Thomas Built Buses debuts its next-gen electric school bus
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