A new hydrogen waste truck shows just how the needs of heavy vehicle systems are changing and evolving, including the importance of developing suspensions for modern trucks.

The adoption of ‘new energy’ powered trucks, whether they be electric, hydrogen, hydrotreated vegetable oil or renewable diesel, is fostering in a changing landscape for manufacturers of everything that goes into a truck.

This includes Hendrickson, who create suspension solutions for a range of heavy vehicles, including most recently a new hydrogen waste truck in partnership with HDrive.

PowerTorque recently had the opportunity to tour Hendrickson’s Australia Pacific head office in Dandenong, out in Melbourne’s south-east, where we spoke to Andrew Martin, Vice President of International Operations.

Hendrickson Vice President of International Operations Andrew Martin. (Image: Prime Creative Media)

The partnership with HDrive was built off the two companies similar ventures in China, which saw Andrew come into contact with CEO Ben Kiddle.

It is just one of the ways that Hendrickson is branching out into the realm of New Energy Optimised solutions, or NEO as it’s known across its product line.

The HDrive truck currently sports a PRIMAAX European configuration, with Hendrickson looking to supply other models of the suspension line including the Global Comfort Air NEO and PARASTEER NEO.

Andrew explains that developing a suspension for hydrogen vehicles comes with new challenges, including dealing with increased weight due to the additional load that a hydrogen fuel cell or battery adds on.

“Our NEO variants of our suspension are all highly optimised for new energy applications,” he says.

“You could pick any one of our suspensions, and the NEO version is tweaked to suit the uniqueness of the vehicle.

“This vehicle is a collaboration with their factory in China and ours in China. Our team in this market do the same thing from an application engineering and optimisation engineering perspective.

“We go back to a clean sheet of paper and ask ‘what can we do, what can we engineer?’ knowing what the unique operational environment and market is, what the conditions and fleet operations are.

The HDrive hydrogen waste truck. (Image: Prime Creative Media)

“Then there’s a mini-design process to see how close to the pin our existing product is. We then close that gap with the local engineering to bring it on target.

“That could be structural changes, a shift in the suspension’s ride and handling or damping characteristics. There’s a lot of market knowledge and legislative framework knowledge that we bring. While we bring hardware, we also bring intellectual capability.”

One of Hendrickson’s tasks for the near future is creating suspension solutions for trucks that are continuing to change to the needs of the market.

Calls for changes to the Performance Based Standards (PBS) framework may usher in new requirements for suspension and similar systems, which Andrew knows they will have to be conscious of.

But with its advanced simulation tools, Hendrickson is able to look at how any changes to current suspension models or completely new ones will work before they even begin entering the production process.

This is in addition to the comprehensive testing that takes place in its Melbourne facility and abroad.

“The speed of the market change is one factor. The other is more around the legislative framework and the rate of change in innovation,” Andrew says.

“PBS in particular, the rate of adoption and change of PBS and what it means.

“As you experiment with the number of axles, performance of a suspension, the handling characteristics, that has an enormous impact of the viability of an idea or the harpooning of it.

“We’re able to with our toolset and skillset, to help customers challenge the boundaries and push them.

“The volume and speed of the ideas and their implementation is extraordinary. I’ve been doing this for 28 years and I’ve never seen such a fast-paced environment.”