On Tuesday, VTT, a technology research center in Finland, will conduct the first ever test of electric fuel made from green hydrogen and carbon dioxide in vehicle use. The fuel will be tested on a tractor equipped with a diesel engine at Agco Power’s factory in Nokia.
The project is aimed at replacing fossil diesel fuel in areas that are difficult to electrify, such as heavy road traffic and shipping. The fuel can also be used in work machines. VTT has developed the production of electric fuel for commercial applications and industrial scale with the help of companies.
The responsible leader of the project, research professor Juha Lehtonen says that this is an important step towards reducing carbon emissions from transportation. “We aim to get information about the usability of the fuel through a field test,” he said in an announcement.
The tractor will be refueled with electric fuel during a test drive that lasts several hours. During the test drive, various measurements such as fuel consumption and emissions will be taken to evaluate the effectiveness of the fuel. Agco Power’s director of product development Kari Aaltonen explains that this is an opportunity to further develop electric fuels for practical use.
VTT’s project received EUR 3.3 million in funding from Business Finland, which was increased by additional investments from companies to more than EUR six million for parallel research and product development efforts
