August 16th, 2010 
Aaron Turpen European companies FAUN and Heliocentris have teamed to create a German garbage (refuse) truck that runs on hydrogen or diesel fuel and is a battery electric hybrid to boot. The truck is being put into service by Berliner Stadtreinigung.
The truck runs as either a hydrogen electric hybrid or as a diesel electric hybrid, depending on available fuel. Northern Europe has gone whole hog with hydrogen, having built a hydrogen highway that stretches between Norway and Germany and with several governments and utilities putting hydrogen-fueled vehicles on the road. This latest is unique in that it’s a dual-fuel option and is the first I’ve seen that isn’t a bus.
The truck runs as a hybrid electric with a small battery bank. The vehicle is propelled by the diesel engine in the same way most refuse collection trucks are. Once stopped to either load or unload garbage, however, the diesel engine shuts off and the batteries and hydrogen fuel cell kick in to power the hydraulics, crusher, and other on-board tools for the truck plus the internal climate controls and air systems. This saves a significant amount of idle time and energy and removes those systems (and their friction weight) from the diesel engine, which also raises its efficiency.
The fuel cell is much lighter than its equivalent in batteries. The truck prototype is to undergo on-road testing to get real-world data before a small fleet is issued. Down the line, it may be possible to use hydrogen captured from the landfill to fill the H2 tanks on these trucks, creating a somewhat closed loop energy system for the refuse collection.
The company has not said whether a truck running entirely on fuel cells is being considered. These trucks are also capable of running on biodiesel, of course, further lowering their impact.
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