The Rutgers Center for Advanced Infrastructure and Transportation (CAIT) in the School of Engineering is preparing to demonstrate hydrogen fuel cell technology as part of a $13 million pilot project funded by the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA).
The project includes partners Public Service Enterprise Group Inc. (PSEG), the Center for Transportation and the Environment (CTE), Hyundai and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
CAIT will lead the initiative, which officials say has the potential to enhance supply chain efficiency, invest in U.S. infrastructure and jobs and position New Jersey as a hub for advanced transportation technologies. CTE, a subcontractor on the project, is a non-profit organization with expertise in hydrogen technology development.
“This pilot project will leverage expertise from academia, government, and the private sector to explore the potential of hydrogen-powered trucks, keeping New Jersey on the forefront of innovation and strengthening our long-term economic competitiveness,” said Tim Sullivan, chief executive officer of the NJEDA.
Hyundai’s XCIENT Fuel Cell Trucks will be used for this demonstration. The trucks will operate at Port Newark. The facility is run by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
The trucks will support existing drayage operations (moving goods over short distances) and supply chain logistics and will transport shipping containers from the port to warehouses, rail yards and the next leg of the longer freight journey. Currently, this short-distance transport of goods is conducted by fuel-intensive, combustion engine trucks that are typically single-purpose for drayage, serving the same short distance for their useful life.
The project will proceed in phases, beginning with procurement of the trucks and hydrogen supply and the design of the fueling site.
Truck deployment and testing are expected to start in the beginning of 2026.
“We’re demonstrating how hydrogen can be integrated into real-world transportation and logistics operations, and we will investigate its potential to drive down costs, improve performance, and support long-term economic growth,” said Ali Maher, director of Rutgers CAIT and principal investigator of the project. “This type of applied research is critical to proving the use cases of innovative technology and paving the way for its implementation.”
Rutgers will manage the project and lead the research, workforce development and performance validation efforts. Rutgers will engage experts from the university’s school of engineering and the office for research to identify and document opportunities to build on the successes and lessons learned from this pilot.
PSEG will manage the fueling operations of the six hydrogen-powered trucks.
Rutgers CAIT will work with CTE to collect service data on existing drayage operations to establish key performance indicators and benchmarks for the hydrogen trucks.
“Establishing clear performance benchmarks based on current drayage operations is essential to demonstrating that hydrogen trucks can meet the real-world demands of port logistics,” said Niki Rinaldi El-Abd, senior managing consultant at CTE.
After daily truck service begins, the project team will collect, analyze and report on key performance indicators for 12 months. At the end of the pilot, the team will develop a dataset and snapshot of the benefits and challenges associated with green hydrogen-powered drayage trucks, including shifts in fuel consumption rates, maintenance costs and port utilization.
The pilot project also will give insights into obstacles that the transportation industry may have to overcome to effectively implement, maintain and operate green hydrogen-powered vehicles.
