On June 10, Elemental Trucks revealed the first Ontario-built hydrogen fuel cell truck. It is here, made for Canadian market at 63 ton gross vehicle weight, and will be introduced to the market next year, equipped with fuel cells and hydrogen cylinders, according to Elemental Trucks CEO Jamie Ally.

Ally: It’s a 63-ton truck, gross combined mass rating. It’s the only one with that kind of weight rating in North America. It’s a zero-emission truck, hydrogen fuel cell powertrain, 360 kilowatts of hydrogen fuel cell power. And it’s an electric drivetrain, really designed for what Canada needs. Canada operates a lot of 63-ton trucks. There’s no other manufacturer currently making a commercially available zero-emission truck with that weight rating, because everybody’s focused really on the much larger U.S. market. So that’s the niche that we’re trying to occupy, and we’re trying to build it in Canada and serve Canadian customers.

While Elemental Trucks hasn’t yet gotten exclusive agreements with any of the OEM or fuel cell providers, the company’s CEO says it will be built on Peterbilt glider chassis. The hydrogen tank will be mounted to the back of the cab and hydrogen stored at 700 bar.

Ally: We have gaseous hydrogen storage on board 700 bar. We could also do 350 bar, but we find the industry is moving more towards 700 bar. So it’s gaseous cylinders positioned behind the cabin.

James Menzies: Where can they fuel in Ontario, or where will they be able to fuel in Ontario when this truck comes out next year?

Ally: Really, the only places to fuel today are at the airport at GTA, and there’s a fueling station at ITD. Those are the two sources right now. There’s a lot of hydrogen coming from HIF1, so we’re looking for ways to connect that hydrogen production with end source fuel in strategic locations, ideally for trucking.

The truck is designed specifically for heavy haul applications in Canada, particularly in regional and long haul routes within Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia and Quebec. Elemental is targeting fleets operating on fixed routes that align with existing or planned hydrogen refueling infrastructure.

Ally: The best application — heavy haul — is moving that kind of payload, 63 ton gross vehicle weight rating, combined with some kind of emissions reduction mandate or zero emission truck and target that a fleet might have. That’s really the best combo. If an operator moves 63 tons, a lot of them only operate 63 tons, and they have zero emission aspirations. They want to be part of that early adopter pathway and trajectory to get our costs down until we get to cost parity. Then that’s the ideal profile.

Speaking to the crowd, Ally said commercial vehicles are on track to become the largest source of on-road greenhouse gas emissions and decarbonizing the sector remains one of the biggest challenges. That’s why Elemental Trucks is focused on delivering real solutions, zero-emission vehicles that offer long range, heavy payload capacity and faster fueling.

Ally: Hydrogen will be a cornerstone of Canada’s clean energy transition, and we’re committed to helping lead that change with production beginning in 2026 and out footprint building across Canada, we are open for business, open to partnerships, and proud to be part of Canada’s clean energy future.

And that is why the province chose Elemental Trucks as a backdrop for its own hydrogen announcements. Sam Oosterhoff, Associate Minister of energy-intensive industries, who was in attendance, announced a new hydrogen interruptible rate pilot, which will offer lower electricity rates to hydrogen producers who agree to use less power during peak demand times, since making hydrogen uses a lot of electricity and can be expensive. The pilot aims to reduce the production costs by encouraging producers to make hydrogen when electricity demand is lower.

Oosterhoff: Hydrogen sector is rapidly evolving, and our province is proud to be at the forefront of this global trend. As an energy carrier with low carbon potential, hydrogen plays a pivotal role in our ongoing energy transition, and we believe will play an even more important role in the years ahead. But we want to make sure that the use of hydrogen expands above and beyond where it is today, because we know that hydrogen offers a clean and flexible alternative to fossil fuels, especially in sectors where they are not only energy intensive, but also hard to abate and electrification can become less feasible in some of those sectors.

The province also announced an expansion of its Hydrogen Innovation Fund, previously announced in March, which provides additional $30 million in funding to kickstart hydrogen production and consumption. For more news on sustainable trucking, visit trucknews.com.