U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington, visited the Centralia TransAlta plant Thursday, Jan. 4 to see how a Seattle-based company is using the site to test greener mining equipment.
Founded in 2018, First Mode produces hybrid fuel cell battery power plants. At the Centralia site, trucks are retrofitted with hybrid batteries and hydrogen fuel cell engines and tested in a real-world mining environment.
“Each large mining haul truck uses around 1 million liters of diesel annually, emitting approximately 2,700 metric tons of CO2,” said Jeffrey Peterson, a First Mode spokesperson, adding the trucks contribute over 35 million metric tons of greenhouse gasses each year.
“First Mode’s Hybrid EV immediately reduces truck emissions by up to 25% and helps our customers bridge to zero emissions via either our BEV or FCEV solution at a pace that works for them.”
During her visit, Murray toured the First Mode’s office space and work yard and got an up close look at heavy-duty trucks in the process of being retrofitted. First Mode began leasing space at the TransAlta site in October 2022. Between 10 and 30 employees work at the proving site on any given day. Over 150 First Mode employees are trained to work at the facility.
“Transitioning to a clean energy economy is absolutely critical to addressing the climate crisis, and as we do so, I want to make sure Washington state is ready to lead the economy of the future,” Murray said. “First Mode is doing incredibly innovative things to decarbonize heavy industry by converting existing mining haul trucks into low carbon and zero-emissions vehicles, which are a really important piece of the puzzle since mining sources the minerals required for the clean energy transition.”
Lewis County has seen a variety of hydrogen-related investments in recent years.
In May 2022, the Economic Alliance of Lewis County announced it is facilitating a partnership between TransAlta and Fortescue Future Industries (FFI) to potentially bring a hydrogen plant to the site, which could cost between $400 and $600 million.
In October, Murray announced that the Pacific Northwest would be one of seven designated “hydrogen hubs” across the country, with up to $1 billion in funding.
“That’s the kind of incentive that brings this company, First Mode, here to do the research and the work to convert large, huge vehicles to using hydrogen,” Murray said. “That designation allows them the kind of research money, things that they need, the investments, the incentives, to be right here in Washington state and not someplace else across the globe.”
Recipients include Puget Sound Energy, Twin Transit, Centralia College and USA Fortescue Future Industries. Negotiations are currently underway for the U.S. Department of Energy sub-awards.
“This is amazing to see. We have done great strides since we passed the (Inflation Reduction Act) focusing on hydrogen hubs here in Washington state. Just the incentives that are out there for new, green energy,” Murray said, adding the work means bringing jobs and economic investment into Lewis County.
First Mode plans to develop “pilot-scale” deployment of the retrofitted hybrid retrofit trucks by the end of the year, with “commercial scale” deployment expected next year.
“The HEV lays the groundwork for our zero-emissions BEV and FCEV retrofit solutions beyond 2025,” Peterson said. “Our factory in south Seattle will support the at-scale production of these solutions on this timeline.”
The cost of the retrofit can vary, though the company aims for the hybrid trucks to be competitive with diesel over the life of the vehicle. During the retrofit process, the truck’s diesel engine remains unchanged.
“The HEV retrofit is completed in less time than our zero-emissions Battery EV (BEV) or hydrogen Fuel Cell EV (FCEV) solutions since each removes the truck’s diesel engine,” Peterson said.
“Our HEV platform also serves as the platform on which our BEV and FCEV solutions are built — safeguarding customers’ initial investment.”
The TransAlta coal-fired Centralia plant is expected to permanently close in 2025 based on an agreement and bill signed in 2011 by Gov. Chris Gregoire, the TransAlta Energy Transition Bill.
