Verne receives award to develop cryo-compressed hydrogen solutions for the U.S. Army

May 2024

Verne was awarded funding through the U.S. Army Energy Demand Reduction and Clean Energy Tech SBIR program and will conduct feasibility analysis on cryo-compressed hydrogen vehicles

San Francisco, California, May 29, 2024 — Verne received an award to research cryo-compressed hydrogen (CcH2) vehicles for the U.S. Army. Hydrogen is an alternative fuel that can be generated on-site near the edge of operations, removing reliance on complex fuel supply chains and lowering all-in fuel costs. Cryo-compressed hydrogen is a novel form of hydrogen storage that maximizes hydrogen density, extending vehicle range without adding extra weight. During this project, Verne will work with the U.S. Army Ground Vehicle System Center and vehicle manufacturers to gather requirements and model the operational impact of adopting CcH2 solutions for medium and heavy-duty vehicles used in U.S. Army operations.

The U.S. military is the largest consumer of oil in the world, using more than 100 million barrels of oil annually. In 2021, the U.S. military emitted 51 million metric tons of CO2, greater than the total emission footprint of more than 70% of countries. However, the U.S. military has placed a strong emphasis on decarbonizing their operations: the U.S. Army released their first comprehensive Climate Strategy in 2022, with the goal of reaching net zero emissions from Army installations by 2045. Investing in clean energy research will enable the U.S. Army to achieve these climate targets, develop supply chain resiliency, and remain at the cutting edge of important frontier technologies like CcH2.

The U.S. Department of Defense has long been a leading driver of innovation, responsible for developing critical technologies with benefits extending far beyond military applications. The U.S. Department of Defense drove early semiconductor development in the 1950s, created the precursor to the modern internet in the 1960s and built the first Global Position System (GPS) in the 1970s. The U.S. Department of Defense is now leading development of alternative energy technologies to increase operational capabilities and meet their energy targets.

Verne’s cryo-compressed hydrogen technology involves cooling and compressing hydrogen to achieve the maximum hydrogen density at 73 g/L internal density, a 33% improvement over liquid hydrogen and an 87% improvement over traditional 700 bar compressed gas hydrogen. This best-in-class energy density leads to greater range and payload, enhancing operational capabilities.

“The U.S. Army has been responsible for advancing many critical technologies and Verne is excited to work together to advance cryo-compressed hydrogen,” said David Jaramillo, Verne Co-founder and CTO. “Verne’s mission is to provide zero-emission technologies that do not require costly performance trade-offs, and this is a vote of confidence that the U.S. Army believes CcH2 can meet their strict performance standards.”

Decisive Point, a venture capital firm with expertise in navigating the federal and commercial markets will provide strategic support on this award: “The DoD continues to fund technologies that enable its platforms to leverage new fuel sources like hydrogen to provide an advantage when it comes to resilient supply chains and long-range capability,” said Eric Horan, Partner at Decisive Point and former Government Contracting Officer for the U.S. Navy.

Since its founding in 2020, Verne has been dedicated to providing high-density hydrogen storage systems that meet the needs of heavy-duty transportation. Last year, Verne announced a CcH2 storage record during stationary demonstration of a 29 kg storage tank at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and completed the first testing of their CcH2 storage system on-board a vehicle. Verne recently announced a project to demonstrate the first CcH2 Class 8 Truck. Verne is working with key trucking fleets and OEMs, as well as leading partners across aviation, ports, mining, and hydrogen distribution & refueling.


About Verne

Verne was founded in 2020 to develop high-density hydrogen storage solutions required to decarbonize heavy-duty transportation. Verne’s platform unlocks zero-emission operations in sectors including trucking, aviation, port vehicles, mining and hydrogen distribution. Verne is financially supported by leading commercial entities, including Trucks Venture Capital, Collaborative Fund, Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund, United Airlines Ventures Sustainable Flight Fund, Caterpillar VC, and Newlab. Verne is also supported by Breakthrough Energy Fellows, the Department of Energy’s ARPA-E, The U.S. Army, Alberta Innovates and other agencies. For more information, visit www.verneh2.com.

Company contact: contact@verneh2.com

Related News

Governor's Press Office

Verne announces new Pennsylvania manufacturing facility with Governor Shapiro

July 2025

Muncy, PA, July 10, 2025 - Governor Shapiro announced the establishment of Verne’s new manufacturing facility in Muncy, PA. Verne will produce storage vessels for efficiently transporting hydrogen and other low-carbon molecules. The project will create 61 new jobs in Lycoming County and establish a domestic supply of critical energy storage infrastructure.

Energy demand is growing rapidly in sectors including data centers, robotics and advanced manufacturing. The nation’s aging electricity grid is struggling to meet the growth in energy demand and is constraining the growth of businesses in these key sectors. Verne has developed energy solutions to flexibly and efficiently deliver power to data centers, construction sites, ports, airports and other critical sectors. Establishing this manufacturing facility will allow Verne to scale up our production and deploy energy solutions that keep these critical industries running.

“After conducting a nationwide search, we determined that North Central Pennsylvania was the perfect place to establish our manufacturing footprint. The proximity to key partners in the region was a crucial factor, as it will allow Verne to leverage their expertise to optimize our supply chain and manufacturing processes,” said Ted McKlveen, Verne Co-founder & CEO. “This facility will accelerate our impact in delivering energy to power critical industries that are currently not being served by our nation’s electricity grid.”

Verne received $1.27 million in support from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania: “This investment in Verne is another example of how the Shapiro Administration is diversifying our energy sector while fostering innovation and supporting the Commonwealth’s vital manufacturing industry,” said DCED Secretary Rick Siger. “It also shows what Governor Shapiro’s 10-year Economic Development Strategy is achieving — firmly establishing Pennsylvania’s status as a leader in innovation, economic development, and job creation.”

Verne is thankful for the support of Governor Shapiro, the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED), and the Williamsport/Lycoming Chamber of Commerce for this development.

Read more: https://dced.pa.gov/newsroom/governor-shapiro-announces-4-5-million-investment-from-energy-storage-innovator-verne-inc-to-build-its-first-manufacturing-facility-in-lycoming-county-creating-61-jobs-and-growing-pennsylvania/

 

About Verne

Verne’s mission is to decarbonize the most challenging sectors of the economy. Verne provides modern and rapidly deployable power solutions to critical sectors including data centers, construction sites, ports, and airports. Verne is supported by Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund, Breakthrough Energy Fellows, Caterpillar VC, NextEra Energy Resources, United Airlines Ventures Sustainable Flight Fund, Collaborative Fund, ARPA-E, The U.S. Army, and other leading organizations.

Verne begins offering zero-emission on-site power generation to customers

May 2025

San Francisco, CA, May 30, 2025 — Verne is now offering zero-emission off-grid power to customers. Customers are increasingly seeking quiet, clean on-site power generation in applications including ports, EV charging, construction and data centers. Verne has partnered with a leading equipment rental company that supplies diesel generators to meet customers’ grid-independent power needs and has recently added hydrogen power generators to their equipment fleet. Verne will provide hydrogen fuel and fuel storage to create an integrated hydrogen-to-power solution available to customers nationwide.

In one of Verne’s recent deployments, the company demonstrated the integrated hydrogen-to-power offering in Southern California for customers in construction and EV charging. Verne delivered hydrogen to hydrogen fuel cell generators developed by EODev. The demonstration showcased the ease and efficiency of zero-emission, quiet on-site power generation with hydrogen generators. The combined offering is the lowest cost solution for customers seeking rapid, permit-friendly power.

“Verne was founded to provide reliable energy solutions to the most critical sectors of the economy,” said Ted McKlveen, Co-founder & CEO of Verne. “Working with established equipment rental partners will help us reach customers seeking clean, efficient off-grid power and allow us to accelerate deployment of our solutions in the most critical, most demanding sectors of the economy.”

Customers interested accessing zero-emission on-site power generation can reach out to Verne at contact@verne-power.com.

About Verne

Verne’s mission is to decarbonize the most challenging sectors of the economy. Verne provides zero-emission on-site power to critical sectors including construction, ports, EV fleets and data centers. Verne is supported by Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund, Breakthrough Energy Fellows, Caterpillar VC, NextEra Energy Resources, United Airlines Ventures Sustainable Flight Fund, Collaborative Fund, ARPA-E, The U.S. Army, and other leading organizations.

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

LLNL and Verne demonstrate highly efficient hydrogen densification pathway with less required energy

March 2025

Livermore, California, March 18, 2025 — Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and Verne have demonstrated a novel pathway for creating high-density hydrogen through a research program funded by Department of Energy’s ARPA-E.

The demonstration validated that it is possible to efficiently reach cryo-compressed hydrogen conditions with liquid hydrogen-like density directly from a source of gaseous hydrogen — substantially reducing the energy input required compared to methods that rely on energy-intensive hydrogen liquefaction.

The energy density of hydrogen on a mass basis is extremely high. However, at ambient conditions gaseous hydrogen requires more volume to store an equivalent amount of energy as competing forms of energy storage.

To reduce the storage volume required, densification of hydrogen is typically accomplished using gas compression or liquefaction. This work demonstrated a pathway that uses both compression and cooling at the same time, each to a lesser degree than when used independently.

So far, the hydrogen supply chain has been hindered by a trade-off between compressed gaseous hydrogen — which is cheap to produce, but low in density — and liquid hydrogen— which is high in density, but expensive to densify (via liquefaction). This trade-off has led to expensive distribution costs that have limited the adoption of hydrogen solutions.

This demonstration validates that cryo-compressed hydrogen can break this trade-off by creating high-density hydrogen without requiring the significant energy inputs required of hydrogen liquefaction.

Enabling end-use applications of hydrogen

Annual U.S. power consumption is projected to grow by 800 terrawatt hours by 2030, with data centers and electric vehicles  driving 77 percent of this new demand, according to the Boston Consulting Group. Customers from a variety of sectors are seeking increased electrical power and are not currently being served by the grid.

Hydrogen can be delivered to these sectors and converted to electricity on-site through a fuel cell, engine or turbine. However, the cost of existing hydrogen distribution technologies has limited adoption.

“This demonstration confirms that cryo-compressed hydrogen can break the current trade-off between density and cost,” said Ted McKlveen, co-founder & CEO of Verne. “Providing a low-cost way to reach high densities will bring down the cost of delivering and using hydrogen, opening up a host of applications for hydrogen across some of the most demanding sectors of the economy from construction to ports to warehouses.”

More efficient densification pathway proven 

The novel hydrogen densification pathway that LLNL and Verne demonstrated produces cryo-compressed hydrogen without requiring a phase change, leading to 50 percent energy savings relative to small-scale hydrogen liquefaction.

During the most recent demonstration, conversion of hydrogen to 81 K (-314 degrees Fahrenheit) and 350 bar (one bar is equivalent to atmospheric pressure at sea level) and densities greater than 60 grams per liter were achieved using a catalyst-filled heat exchanger. 

In addition to energy savings, this densification pathway is more modular than hydrogen liquefaction. While hydrogen liquefaction typically requires construction of large, centralized facilities, cryo-compression can be efficiently built at small scale. This means that the hydrogen distribution network can be further optimized, locating densification and distribution hubs closer to the points of use.

 

Read the full press release: https://www.llnl.gov/article/52606/llnl-verne-demonstrate-highly-efficient-hydrogen-densification-pathway-less-required-energy