Clean energy company First Mode to set up factory in Sodo

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Clean energy company First Mode is building a 45,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Sodo.

The company, which moved its headquarters to London earlier this year but still has the majority of its employees in Seattle, will make zero-emission power plants to replace diesel engines in mining haul trucks.

The factory, set to begin operations later this year, comes after First Mode earlier this year merged with nuGen, the clean energy division of global mining company Anglo American, and entered a supply agreement to retrofit and decarbonize about 400 Anglo American haul trucks over the next 15 years.

-snip-

The factory's first engines will go to a testing site in Centralia. The company launched a hydrogen-powered haul truck at an Anglo American mine in South Africa in May 2022 as a proof of concept. The truck started operating in Anglo American's commercial fleet in December. First Mode also has a presence in Perth, Australia.

https://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/news/2023/07/13/first-mode-sodo-factory-seattle-mining-nugen.html

[Think. Again.]

1. Yep....

Hydrogen seems to be the winner for the heavy transport industry.

For both combustion AND electric applications.

And the fact that existing heavy equipment can simply be retro-fitted from diesel to H2 (as in this article), rather than having to build new from scratch, is a MAJOR plus for the industry.