Bosch is one of the biggest OEM suppliers in the automotive industry. From motorcycles, to cars, and even electric bicycles, nearly all motorized vehicles can, in one way or another, be equipped with technology from the German company. Indeed, Bosch’s status as a trailblazer in the automotive industry is by no means slowing down, as the company has recently announced even more investments in alternative fuel.
About a year ago, in July, 2022, Bosch announced that it was investing one billion Euros towards hydrogen focused initiatives. This time around, the company has announced yet another investment plan amounting to 2.5 billion Euros all the way until 2026. Since announcing its hydrogen endeavors back in 2021, Bosch has created more than 3,000 jobs, with half of them in Europe. More specifically, Bosch hopes to launch a large-scale production facility of hydrogen fuel cells in its Stuttgart-Feuerbach facility in its home country of Germany.
Indeed, Bosch has some lofty ambitions when it comes to making hydrogen a key revenue stream for the company. In fact, by 2030, it expects to generate up to five billion Euros in sales solely from its hydrogen technologies. That said, these numbers are not just pulled from thin air. At present, Bosch is in talks with US-based Nikola Corporation. Here, the company will serve as a pilot customer for Bosch’s Class 8 hydrogen fuel cell line. Nikola Corporation’s hydrogen-powered trucks are expected to hit North American roads no later than the third quarter of 2023.
Apart from hydrogen fuel cells, Bosch is reportedly also working on a combustion engine powered by hydrogen. Similar in nature to projects undertaken by Yamaha, hydrogen fuel has been proven to be a zero-emissions alternative to gasoline, and as such, could be the saving grace of the internal combustion engine. Toyota had demonstrated this in 2022, as I explained in my article about Yamaha supporting the development of a hydrogen engine. As for Bosch’s ongoing projects, the hydrogen combustion engine seems to be geared towards heavy commercial vehicles.
