IVECO, Daimler Truck AG, OMV, Shell and the Volvo Group have committed to work together to help create the conditions for the mass market roll-out of hydrogen trucks in Europe.
As a growing number of governments and businesses align on a common vision of a net zero emissions energy system, the H2Accelerate participants believe that hydrogen is an essential fuel for the complete decarbonisation of the truck sector and that synchronised investments across the sector during this decade will create the conditions for the mass market roll-out of hydrogen fuelled heavy duty transportation required to meet the European ambition of net zero emissions by 2050.
The 10 year scale up is expected to begin with groups of customers willing to make an early commitment to hydrogen based trucking. These fleets are expected to operate in regional clusters and along European high capacity corridors with good refuelling station coverage. These clusters can then be interconnected to build a truly pan-European network.
Owner Gerrit Marx president, commercial and specialty vehicles at Iveco CNH Industrial, stated: ‘The widespread adoption of hydrogen fuel cell technology in heavy-duty transport is a function of the necessary infrastructure. We also need concrete projects to demonstrate with hauliers and other stakeholders that this solution is financially and operationally viable. The ground breaking H2Accelerate collaboration will create the conditions for this to happen and accelerate the transition to zero-emission transport.’
‘The prize is clear,’ said Elisabeth Brinton, executive vice president for New Energies at Shell. ‘By boosting scale in a big way, hydrogen fuelled trucks will need to become available to customers at or below the cost of owning and operating a diesel truck today. This means truck customers will need to have access to a fully zero emissions vehicle with a similar refuelling time, range and cost range compared to the vehicles in use today.
‘To achieve this ambition a clear regulatory framework is needed, including policies addressing the supply of hydrogen, hydrogen fuelled trucks, refuelling infrastructure and consumer incentives in a coordinated way.’
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