High time for heavy duty hydrogen trucks

The expression ‘chicken and egg’ crops up repeatedly when researching hydrogen’s role as a viable fuel source for heavy duty lorries, and it’s easy to see why.

One kilogram of hydrogen has the same energy density as a gallon of diesel, but manufacturers won’t invest in the development of fuel cell electric trucks if there is little or no refueling infrastructure in place for customers.

Nikola TRE heralds zero-emissions heavy trucking

“To encourage adoption, hydrogen faces similar issues to battery EVs – the need for infrastructure and volume manufacture of vehicles to reduce costs. Battery EVs need charging points and sometimes grid reinforcement; hydrogen vehicles need refuelling stations,” Mark Griffin, market development manager for clean fuels, BOC told The Engineer.

It’s a conundrum that has helped stymie the adoption of hydrogen as a fuel source for heavy-duty vehicles, but this is about to change with tightening tailpipe emissions standards and a drop in the financial - and environmental - cost of producing it.

The EU has mandated that from 2025, heavy-duty vehicles will have to emit 15 per cent less CO2, rising to 30 per cent from 2030. The organisation adds that as a first step, the CO2 emission standards will cover large lorries, which account for 65-to-70 per cent of all CO2 emissions from heavy-duty vehicles. In the UK, the government’s Road to Zero Strategy is driving the transition to zero emissions across all vehicle types for public, commercial and private transport.

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