On Tuesday, Nokia will conduct a test drive with a tractor equipped with a diesel engine, which will be refueled with electric fuel. VTT’s research center says it will test electric fuel made from green hydrogen and carbon dioxide for the first time in vehicle use on Tuesday.
Electric fuels are made from carbon dioxide and water with the help of electrical energy, with hydrogen being an important intermediate product. Together with companies, VTT has developed the production of electric fuel for commercial applications and industrial scale. The responsible leader of the project, research professor at VTT Juha Lehtonen, states in the announcement that the fuel can be used to replace fossil diesel fuel in areas that are difficult to electrify, such as heavy road traffic and shipping. It can also be used in work machines.
Next, they aim to get information about the usability of the fuel through a field test. According to Agco Power’s director of product development Kari Aaltonen in the bulletin, this is done at their factory where a tractor equipped with a diesel engine is refueled with electric fuel during a test drive that lasts several hours. During this time, various emissions in the exhaust gases and consumption of the fuel are measured.
VTT’s project received EUR 3.3 million in funding from Business Finland and additional parallel investments from companies increase this funding to more than EUR six million.