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Gaussin Makes Its Mark on the 2022 Dakar Rally

By September 6, 2022 16   min read  (2942 words)

September 6, 2022 |

Fuel Cells Works, Gaussin Makes Its Mark on the 2022 Dakar Rally

Recently Cal State LA’s David Blekhman sat down with Simon Klein who is the EVP of Vehicle Engineering at Gaussin to talk about Gaussin’s first Dakar Rally truck (click here to view a video about the event).  The challenge is held annually each year at the end of December and the beginning of January, and vehicles that participate in it have to traverse thousands of kilometers of some of the most unforgiving terrain on Earth in hostile atmospheric conditions.  Additionally, Dakar teams also have to follow the rules that govern the race, which increases the difficulty of it.  These factors help to explain why the Dakar Rally serves as a proving ground for both drivers and technology, because only the best of both can hope to win.

Fuel Cells Works, Gaussin Makes Its Mark on the 2022 Dakar Rally

However, in 2022 Gaussin took things one step further since its vehicle was also the first FCEV to participate in the challenge, which made the firm’s involvement in the race even more exciting!

Below David and Simon talk about how and why the company participated in the event, what lessons were learned from the first year of participation, and what the future may hold for the Dakar Rally and FCEVs.

DB: Could you please introduce yourself?

Gaussin:  My name is Simon Klein. I have been the technical director at Gaussin for 13 years. I am in charge of managing the team developing all the electric and hydrogen vehicles for port, airport and logistics centers.

DB:Could you tell me more about this, how that happened that Gaussin decided to build hydrogen truck for the competition?

Gaussin:  Actually, we developed our first hydrogen vehicle about seven, eight years ago for logistics application, it was a port deployment. And about two years ago we were discussing with Mr. Cristoph Gaussin, the CEO, and also the board of directors to develop a hydrogen road truck and bus based on the all the knowledge and skills that we already had from the development of all new products. And so, we got the idea to develop this hydrogen racing truck in order to show to the market that we have the skills and the know-how to develop a hydrogen truck very quickly. A reliable truck that has enough performance and fuel to be able to run the difficult race with very big slopes, in a very harsh environment with high temperatures and a lot of dust. So, if we are able to develop a truck that is capable to participate in the race, that means that we are also able to develop any on-road hydrogen truck.

In 2021, just for two days, we were invited to see the race by a CEO of a Swiss company, who had been doing Dakar for several years. And when we came back, we got the idea to join the competition the same year. This was the idea of developing a hydrogen truck and opportunity to show to the market with the hydrogen racing truck participating in the Dakar. And then when the decision was made, the issue was that we were already in March of 2021 and the Dakar race was coming in January 2022. The time to think about it was in February, and in March we already decided to develop this truck and then we only had eight months remaining before the next Dakar. We took two weeks to quote it and to develop a schedule. And then we found out that it was very challenging, but we liked the challenge and then decided, OK, let’s go.  Let’s participate in the next Dakar in eight months, and we started to build a team.

It was very challenging to get to the end and we were very proud to be ready to go to Dakar, and also be able to finish the race because even on the last day before the start of the race we were working on the truck all night. So, yeah, at the end I am very proud of what we did.

DB: Tell me more about yourself and how you got into vehicle development and then how you transitioned to Gaussin?

Gaussin: I’m an engineer! I studied at the National Institute of Applied Sciences of Strasbourg, France as a generic mechanical engineer.  Then I started working for PSA Peugeot Citroen for one year. That was a traditional automotive industry, which was too big of a company for me. I prefer to work in a small company with more focus on personnel. So, then I left and moved on to a smaller startup where, after two years, we have developed an innovative, multifunctional sweeper and then sold it. Then, I joined Gaussin. It was thirteen years ago, starting as a mechanical engineer on the technical team, and then managing the whole engineering and product development.

DB: Next let’s talk about major technical partners, suppliers for the truck. And so let’s just start breaking down the vehicle into major systems. So chassis is…

Gaussin: We designed our own chassis with help from Magna. We needed to integrate a lot of additional components which are EV and hydrogen related as compared to a standard fuel truck. So that means that we had to save weight. That’s why we decided to design our own chassis, optimizing the thickness of the material and how it was designed, in order to save weight compared to other competitors which use a standard truck that they still reinforce. At the end, their weight is higher than compared to our chassis.

DB: And who helped you with this design?

Gaussin: The issue was that at that moment, the engineering team was really busy because of working on a lot of new hydrogen projects. So, we build the team in less than one month with some subcontractors in Austria, in France, and also in Czech Republic. One month to create a team of approximately 30 engineers and technicians and then we run the project and succeed in less than eight months to get the vehicle ready.

DB: How did you select certain partners, for example, hydrogen tanks, there are several suppliers?

Gaussin: Actually, we made the choice to select only components that were already proven like the fuel tanks, the battery and so on. They were not prototypes but proven products from our regular suppliers. Another company also wanted to participate in the Dakar rally with hydrogen truck and decided to develop their own fuel cell because they wanted a very high-power fuel cell which was not yet available on the market. But this first take cost them a lot of money and then at the end there were delays. And we made the choice to use a smaller fuel cell and to put fuel cells in parallel while using reliable components. And that’s why we were able to develop this truck in such a short time. This is also the reason why we didn’t get a lot of issues during the race. Let’s say we used ready and validated components.

DB:  But did you partner with Hyundai on fuel cells before? How did you connect with Hyundai?

Gaussin: Actually, we developed our first hydrogen vehicle, seven-eight years ago, so we know all the players in that industry. We knew Hyundai before starting the project. And we made the choice to work with them, because they had a product that was ready, and also available very quickly. Because as you know, when we have only eight months to build the truck, you also need to consider the delivery time of the components. And one of the reasons to work with Hyundai was that fuel cells were ready with a very short lead time.

DB: I am still very amazed how you put four fuel cells in parallel and you always run them together?

Gaussin: Yeah, it was step by step. We ran the truck with one fuel cell, two, three, and then four fuel cells.  The truck is divided into two circuits. There is one battery string with two fuel cell stacks and then another string of batteries with two other fuel cell stacks.  We can only run two out of the four fuel cells at the same time. We can also switch off one fuel cell if we decide to because of some parameter issue. We had the possibility in the cab of using the main computer to switch off and on independently each fuel cell and battery.

DB: How about the storage, batteries and motors?

Gaussin:  We have 14 tanks storage with the total capacity of 80 kilogram at 350 bar.

The battery is something we used before. Our choice was to use Microvast LiFPO4 (Lithium, Iron, Phosphate) but don’t have the best density. Even though we are targeting very low weight, it’s not the better density compared to LiNMC (Lithium, Nickel, Manganese, Cobalt).  But we selected the safest technology if you compared to LiNMC. The battery is liquid with air conditioning system limited to 45 deg C. So, we did the choice of safety and not of performance. 

The e-motors are coming from DAF. It’s an e-motor that is installed on several bests. We know them, we know how to control them. And we also know the reliability of the product.

DB: Can you talk about the power of the vehicle? And how would you compare torque of these motors to torque of the competition because in the video you mentioned that other trucks have 1000 horsepower engines?

Gaussin: Both are important! You need horsepower to maintain high-speed depending on the rolling resistance especially in the sand and so on. So, for high speed you need the power and to accelerate or to climb the dune you need the torque. The advantage of the electric motor compared to the diesel engine is that your torque is quite constant compared to diesel engine and there is no change of the gear so you never lose the torque which is continuous.

If you speak about peak power and continuous power, there is +/- 20 percent on the value, you can have more power for a short time. Less power if you use it during a longer time, so let’s say that the power is between 300 and 350 kW per e-motor. The highest speed is 140 kilometers per hour sustained with four fuel cell stacks. For sure we could drive faster, but we have limited because of the rally regulation.

DB: So how do stack up against diesel trucks?

Gaussin: With this first truck the goal was not to win the Dakar but to have a comparable performance with Kamaz, which has been developing trucks for more than 10 years. And we did it in eight months. In addition, it was hydrogen and not a standard diesel truck. So the goal was not to compete against Kamaz with this first truck. At the end, the performance like acceleration, torque and so on was not at the level of Kamaz. But this is the goal of the next step to build a new hydrogen truck, which is able to win Dakar and to compete with Kamaz while being 100% clean and zero emission.

DB:  How about your power strategy? What was the development like?

Gaussin: There are four Hyundai fuel cells of 85 kilowatt each. That’s provides, let’s say, the base power of the truck. And the secondary power source is given by the battery to have the full power to the e-motors. And when the truck is not using the full power of the fuel cell, the fuel cell recharges the battery.

We did everything in house, all the software. We did some simulations and then some tests. We did, let’s say, one or two weeks of tests in the testing area in France. But that was flat. The temperature was not the same just cold weather. We arrived to Saudi Arabia one week before the first day of Dakar. With only one week of testing in real conditions! It was a very short time to test and validate all of our simulation and modeling.

DB:  So how do you manage heat in the desert? And what were the ambient temperatures you had to deal with during the race?

Gaussin: We sized the vehicle to be able to run up to 45 degrees ambient temperature but at the end the maximum temperatures were between 30 to 35 degrees. We didn’t have any issues regarding the heat and the cooling system.

DB:  How about dust? How do you deal with dust and filtering for the fuel cell? And overall, how the truck handled the dust?

Gaussin: Actually, I asked a lot of experts before going to Dakar regarding dust because fuel cell needs clean air. I was expecting that we would have some problems in Dakar regarding dust, but at the end we did not. We installed a good filtration before the fuel cell and we didn’t have any issues regarding the dust. Only clean the filter every night. And honestly, no issue regarding getting the dust even though there was a lot of dust because of no rain and a lot, a lot of sand.

DB:  Were you able to fuel the truck to 350bar?

Gaussin: No, actually, we were not able to find hydrogen at 350 bar. That’s why we didn’t have the full range. We found hydrogen at 180 bar in Saudi Arabia. And it was impossible to find a mobile compressor to compress hydrogen or a mobile station to fill the truck with 350 bar.  So we were limited to 180 bar by equalization between the tubes on the on the truck, approximately 40kg. That’s why we were limited in terms of the range on this first Dakar. Sometimes it was less with a range of 150km depending on the running resistance or climbing dunes.  But we were able to reach about 250km, and that was with a half of our total capacity.

DB: How is the sustainability race different from the main competition, what is expected?

Gaussin:  Actually, we competed in the specific category of experimental vehicle, so there is some arrangement. For example, to get to the start of the race normally you should drive on the road for 200-300km. In the experimental category you are allowed to transport the vehicle on a trailer to the start pointing in order to save hydrogen.

DB: Did you participate in all of the stages of the race?

Gaussin: We did participate in all of the stages of Dakar every day. For all of the stages, I do not remember exactly, it was in the 3-4,000km distance. We had the tube trailer for two or three days depending on the stage, and we had hydrogen for all of the stages. For one of the other points for the experimental category you are allowed to fuel the truck without penalty on time. 

DB: Do you plan to compete with a new truck?

Gaussin: Yes, as I said previously the goal of this first participation was to prove that we have the skills and the know-how to develop the most powerful hydrogen truck in the world. The next step is to be able to compete with other trucks, and so the goal is to improve the truck by reducing the weight, height, and center of gravity.  Because regarding the performance of torque and power we are already equal to existing trucks, the main goal is to reduce the weight and height of the center of gravity.

DB: How do you feel you have changed the Dakar Rally itself?

Gaussin: They were not expecting to have us in the race this year.  Even in October of 2021 they did not realize we were coming.  For sure we have accelerated the change of the race, because they have the goal of being zero emission by 2030. I think they have realized it is possible to do it before.  Actually, we managed all of the logistics of the refueling of the truck and we were not supposed to do it, since it is supposed to be provided by the Dakar Rally but they were not prepared.

About The Author:

David Blekhman is the technical director of the Hydrogen Research and Fueling Facility at Cal State LA.  The research facility addresses practical applications like refueling FCEVs and workforce development, and it remains the only academic facility in the Western Hemisphere that produces hydrogen using electrolysis at the same location it is dispensed.  David was also selected for the prestigious 2019-20 Fulbright Distinguished Chair in Alternative Energy Technology at Chalmers University, Sweden.  Today David continues to teach at Cal State LA as a professor of technology in the College of Engineering, Computer Science, and Technology, and he remains committed to workforce development by raising over $12M for the university.  His work was also recognized with the 2021-22 Outstanding Professor Award.

Fuel Cells Works, Gaussin Makes Its Mark on the 2022 Dakar Rally
About the Author
Jesse Lyon

Jesse Lyon, Contributor

Jesse Lyon is a hydrogen fuel cell thought leader and world-class essayist who is committed to helping bring a hydrogen economy to life imminently. His previous work involved ten published papers on the topics of cyber liability and technology E&O, plus one paper that introduced the insurance sector to robotic liability.

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