Intentions and plans to use two Nikola hydrogen trucks within their US fleet has been revealed by both the DHL Supply Chain and the drinks firm behind Smirnoff, Captain Morgan and more in North America.

Currently not many details around the planned routes the trucks will take have been revealed, however it is evident that all the parties involved in this change, are committed to this project and believe that it is a necessary step forwards for the companies and the industry to take. This is their stance, as they believe that using these trucks in their fleet will be a key step forwards when it comes to improving their logistics.

The plan that has been revealed so far states that, the global logistics firm will use the Class 8 hydrogen fuel cell trucks to deliver Diago North America goods from Diago’s Plainfield campus which is located in Illinois. To complete this task, the company will use a Nikola HYLA modular refueller at the site.

One of the reasons why the companies decided to proceed with Nikola’s hydrogen trucks is because they have a maximum range of five hundred miles and they use 70kg of hydrogen within a 200kW fuel cell module. Then this is combined with 164kWh of batteries. Due to this impressive design, Nikola’s trucks have been selected for a large number of deployments with major companies and this number is still growing. For example, it was in July that Walmart Canada chose to include one of Nikola’s trucks in their Ontario operations.

President of North America Supply at Diago, Marsha McIntosh, commented, “We are extremely excited to be a part of this partnership delivering the first set of heavy-duty hydrogen trucks to Illinois, home to our largest manufacturing hub in North America.”

DHL Supply Chain’s President of Transportation, Jim Monkmeyer, stated, “The deployment of these fuel cell electric vehicles is one of many initiatives that demonstrates how we are putting action behind our words.”

Nikola President and CEO, Steve Girsky, mentioned, “We’re proud to work alongside visionary partners like DHL and Diageo in driving the transition to zero-emissions transportation.”