Verne: The Case for Hydrogen Fuel
The transportation sector is the fourth-largest global contributor of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, following Energy, Industry, and Agriculture.
In the U.S., Transportation is the largest direct source of GHG emissions, representing 29% of total.
This is why decarbonizing transportation must be a priority.
Electric vehicles (EVs) are a viable solution to reduce CO2 emissions from passenger cars. But for long-haul transportation – which includes medium and heavy-duty vehicles, aviation, and maritime use cases – EVs have not offered a compelling solution given limitations in range and payload capacity.
In searching for alternatives, hydrogen has been highlighted as the fuel of choice for its potential role in supporting a zero-emission, heavy-duty transportation industry. Hydrogen scales very well when there is a high-energy requirement and offers fueling speeds comparable to those of diesel. But challenges related to the sourcing, processing, and storage of hydrogen have limited its mainstream adoption.
This is why we are excited to invest in Verne.
Founders Ted, David, and Bav have developed an innovative hydrogen storage system that overcomes the cost, performance, and fuel supply issues of compressed and liquid hydrogen.
Building upon decades of research, Verne stores hydrogen in the cryo-compressed state: the sweet spot of low temperature and moderate pressure.
Cryo-compressed hydrogen is not as cold as liquid hydrogen, saving substantially on the energy required to reach high density. Yet the hydrogen in the cryo-compressed state is just as dense as liquid hydrogen, due to the combination of pressure and cold temperature. Importantly, Verne’s technology can convert either gaseous or liquid hydrogen into cryo-compressed hydrogen, greatly increasing supply chain flexibility.
The result is lightweight hydrogen storage for use onboard trucks, increasing range and payload capacity and decreasing truck capital expenditure.
At scale, Verne expects to produce tanks at 40% the cost of compressed hydrogen tanks and require 50% less energy input than hydrogen liquefaction, all while offering a safer and more reliable solution.
We are proud to partner and invest alongside Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund and Caterpillar Ventures to support the Verne team in their journey.
If you would like to get involved, please reach out. Verne is actively hiring.