Trucking bullish on hydrogen fuel cells

HANOVER, Germany — While the auto industry struggles to convince consumers that hydrogen fuel cell vehicles have a place in daily transportation, truckmakers see huge potential for the technology.

It’s a matter of chemistry, Andreas Gorbach, Daimler Trucks’ technical chief, said at IAA Transportation 2022. No battery chemistry will ever outperform how much energy engineers can store with hydrogen, he said.

“If you take the elements with the biggest difference in electrochemical that gives you the highest energy, the highest voltage and the highest potential energy density cell, you would never come even close to the hydrogen,” Gorbach said.

Even with a significant breakthrough, battery chemistry might reach only a 30th of the energy that hydrogen packs.

“There are not elements that can compete with hydrogen,” Gorbach said.

To be sure, there are still major obstacles to overcome before hydrogen fuel cell trucks can start to replace diesel tractors. There’s almost no fueling infrastructure. The existing hydrogen supply chain couldn’t support trucks by the 100,000s.

And hydrogen refining is dirty, defeating the purpose of a zero-tailpipe-emissions vehicle. The industry must ramp up producing hydrogen with solar, wind and other renewable energy to fulfill its green promise.

— Jerry Hirsch