Edmonton International Airport Announces Participation in VEXSL’s Hydrogen Project Leveraging Hydra Energy’s Dual-Fuel Technology
Project marks the first hydrogen transportation collaboration of its kind in Canada
and the world’s first hydrogen-diesel armoured vehicle
EDMONTON, AB (April 27, 2022) - Today at the Canadian Hydrogen Convention, Edmonton International Airport (EIA) officially announced the “VEXSL Hydrogen Project” with Edmonton-based secure logistics specialists, Veteran Express Secure Logistics (VEXSL), using Hydra Energy’s retrofit solution to convert diesel trucks to co-combust with hydrogen.
Commencing July 1, 2022, this marks the first hydrogen collaboration of its kind in the country and the first commercial fleet to include a hydrogen-converted Class 1 armoured vehicle. Beyond VEXSL’s purpose-built armoured vehicles, the VEXSL Hydrogen Project consists of:
Hydra’s proprietary hydrogen-diesel, co-combustion injection systems installed into VEXSL trucks - at no cost to VEXSL - allowing each converted truck to run on low-carbon hydrogen up to 40% of the time without negatively impacting performance or warranties.
EIA’s land to host the hydrogen fuelling infrastructure to help VEXSL carry out its rapidly expanding secure transportation operations throughout Canada.
Alberta Motor Transport Association (AMTA)’s contribution to the hydrogen fuelling infrastructure plus impartial performance measurements shared among its commercial transportation members and Alberta transportation overall
“Building on our partnership announcement with Hydra last week, we wanted to formally announce the details of our Hydrogen Project and acknowledge all of the critical companies coming together to advance hydrogen trucking within Alberta,” said VEXSL CEO, Cole Fouillard. “We’ve always been committed to leveraging the best technology to improve our operations and community impact which wouldn’t be possible without industry collaborations like this. We look forward to getting our first hydrogen-converted armoured truck on the road this July 1st and realizing 67 tonnes of emissions reduction per vehicle going forward.”
Although heavy-duty trucking accounts for only 1.37 per cent of vehicles on the road in Canada, it accounts for 30 per cent of road-related emissions. Yet, viable, economical clean trucking solutions have not been available for fleet operators looking to reduce their environmental impact.
“Decarbonizing the trucking industry and achieving Net Zero is not easy to do and will never rely on just one company or a single ‘silver bullet’ emissions-reduction technology,” stated Hydra CEO, Jessica Verhagen. “It’s going to take a variety of transition steps along the way like our zero-cost, hydrogen-diesel truck retrofits adopted by forward-thinking fleet owners like Cole. That combined with the necessary hydrogen infrastructure from partners like the EIA and AMTA and the right technology-neutral government policies. We’re proud to be a key piece in the decarbonizing puzzle commercially available today.”
EIA stepped up at this week’s Canadian Hydrogen Convention and continued to prove its commitment to sustainability through a variety of important partnership announcements, including with Hydra Energy to convert its own air-side vehicles. According to Myron Keehn, Vice President, Air Service, Business Development, ESG and Government Relations at EIA, “We have the land, the means, and the drive to support emissions reductions in the region and are pleased to extend our sustainability reach beyond our own airport operations to help local fleets like VEXSL reduce their environmental and community impact as well.”
For more information on the VEXSL Hydrogen Project, please contact H2Project@vexsl.com.
About Edmonton International Airport
Edmonton International Airport (EIA) is a self-funded, not-for-profit corporation driving economic prosperity for the Edmonton Metropolitan Region. EIA is Canada’s fifth-busiest airport by passenger traffic and the largest major Canadian airport by land area. EIA's Airport City Sustainability Campus is home to companies focused on tourism, entertainment, cargo logistics, manufacturing, sustainability, and technology development and commercialization. As a result, EIA generated an economic output of over $3.2 billion and supported over 26,000 jobs pre-pandemic. At its core, EIA believes equity and diversity is a strength and creating an inclusive space is both a privilege and is a fundamental responsibility. For more information, please visit: flyeia.com, follow @flyeia on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn or Facebook.
About VEXSL
Veteran Express Secure Logistics (VEXSL) is a veteran-owned and operated business that is developing a new category of supply chain logistics solutions that merges the security of the armoured car industry with the high-volume transport of the general freight industry. We offer the first nationwide dedicated LTL (Less than truckload) and FTL (Full Truckload) smart-tech transportation and storage service for climate sensitive, high-risk and high-value controlled goods. With a minimum of one military veteran in every shipment, we are committed to providing career opportunities to military veterans and first responders. For more information, please visit www.vexsl.com.
