With the trade show exhibitors boxing up their wares and attendees sitting in the last two series of workshops of the week, ACT Expo 2021 has capped off another successful event with the help of its speakers, sponsors, and staff.
The first of the last two workshops, the Light and Medium Duty Vehicle Summit, covered everything from battery electric to smart charging, and state-of-the-art technologies. The three-part session included speakers from global OEMs, infrastructure providers, and technology solution providers. During the first discussion, Building on the Momentum of Light-Duty Electric Vehicles, the speakers touched on how fleets will make this transition to zero-emission fleets.
“California has already set up higher targets for fleets,” said Kash Sethi, Chief Revenue Officer, Lightning eMotors, adding that the state has also provided more funding for public fleets to pay for new vehicles, like the Hybrid and Zero-Emission Truck and Bus Voucher Incentive Project, or HVIP.
On the other end of the vehicle weight spectrum, the Ultra Clean Heavy-Duty Vehicle Summit offered attendees insight into some of the most significant heavy-duty vehicle industry innovations in history, with more to come in the near future. Fleets are increasingly deploying state-of-the-art technology in their operations, including battery-electric and hydrogen trucks, as well as low emission natural gas, propane, and renewable fuels.
Pablo Koziner, president of energy and commercial at Nikola Motor Company, who sat alongside a number of other clean-tech OEMs, sees a real opportunity for fuel cell technology in the Class 7-8 market, specifically in terms of hydrogen fueling.
“Having the ability to produce hydrogen at large scale, delivers a reduced cost of hydrogen molecule that makes it extremely cool,” said Koziner, giving an example of another form of hydrogen production involving feedstock, “through a process that will deliver very competitive rates of hydrogen is a very different way to produce hydrogen.”
The ACT Expo is already looking to expand next year’s show, so make sure to save the date for ACT Expo 2022, May 9-12, 2022.