Hydrogen injection startup says cargo-ship trial cut fuel use by 24%
Newlight's hydrogen-injection retrofit cut cargo-ship fuel use by 24% and CO2 emissions by 28% in a trial voyage.
The system is designed as a retrofit that can be installed in less than two weeks without a dry dock, according to the company. It continuously monitors a diesel engine, measuring exhaust temperature, combustion pressure and air intake pressure, and injects compressed hydrogen at millisecond-level timing each time a piston moves. Rather than adding power, the injection allows the engine to reduce its diesel fuel flow while maintaining the same output, co-founder Evyatar Cohen told TechCrunch.
The company says the technology can cut fuel use and emissions by more than 20% and can save some vessels as much as $500,000 in annual fuel costs. The test was carried out on a 650-foot Lomar Shipping bulk carrier. Haran Cohen Hillel, co-founder and CEO, described the month-long voyage as an emotional milestone. “Being onboard and seeing the system operate in real conditions was a completely different experience from anything we had done in the lab,” he told TechCrunch.
The seed round includes lomarlabs, the venture arm of Lomar Shipping; BIRD Energy, a joint venture between the U.S. Department of Energy and the Israel Ministry of Energy; deep tech funds Undeterred Capital and CiRi Ventures; and Fusion VC. The two co-founders previously spent years in the Israeli Navy.
Newlight said it has signed agreements to install the system on 12 vessels across multiple companies, with broader fleet rollouts planned for next year. Other companies are working on fuel-injection methods using ammonia or methanol, but Newlight argues its hydrogen setup is leaner and requires fewer changes to typical marine diesel engines.
Beyond shipping, the co-founders see potential applications in transportation and data centers, noting that some investors even have trains. They plan to stay focused on shipping for now and scale there before expanding.