Daimler Truck in Germany has revealed it is now starting the planned second phase of testing for its revolutionary hydrogen fuel cell powered trucks, following the completion of initial customer trials in its home country.
The company said this week that the second phase of testing will include five additional partner companies, as it continues to prepare its fuel-cell trucks for series production, based as it said on real-world customer requirements.
Daimler stated that five leading German transport and logistics organisations, including DHL Supply Chain, Reber Logistik, Teva Germany, Rhenus, and Hornbach will each deploy a Mercedes-Benz GenH2 truck on regular logistics routes within Germany.
The company said that its goal is to not only to test use cases across various industries and capture additional operating scenarios, but also to ensure that all findings feed directly into further truck development as well as preparations for sales and service processes.
However, the company admitted that the expansion of hydrogen refueling infrastructure is progressing significantly slower than expected and that as a result, its customers will not be able to deploy hydrogen trucks in larger numbers in the next few years.
As a result, large-scale industrialisation of fuel cells and Daimler’s planned series production of hydrogen-powered trucks, with a focus on Europe, is now targeted for the early 2030s not 2028 as originally claimed
Head of product engineering, at Mercedes-Benz Trucks, Michael Scheib, said that to develop the best trucks for its customers it was important to conduct trials with partners early on.
“That’s why the next five companies are now testing our hydrogen-powered Mercedes-Benz GenH2 truck in daily operation, and this is another important step on the road to series production and to CO2 neutral transport with battery and hydrogen,” saidScheib.
Daimler claims that all five fuel-cell trucks will be deployed by the companies over a period of a year on different routes under real world operating conditions in various logistics applications from temperature-controlled pharmaceutical transport to general cargo and international long-distance work across multiple European countries.
DHL Supply Chain CEO for Germany, Katrin Hölter said that with the fuel-cell truck in combination with a fully electric refrigerated trailer brings a zero-carbon transport solution to the road that is fully powered by renewable energy.
“Its deployment in operations on routes across Baden-Württemberg, Hesse, and North Rhine-Westphalia proves that forward-looking, sustainable logistics already works todayeven for sensitive frozen and fresh products, said Hölter.
“Together with Daimler, we are setting new benchmarks for zero-carbon transport and reinforcing our commitment to being the Green Logistics of choice,” she said.
Andreas Back, from waste and recycling management company Hornbachj said innovation has been a part of the company’s tradition and this includes its internal circular economy.
“Depending on our needs, we have been testing different drive technologies in day-to-day operations for some time. and Daimler’s fuel-cell truck is another step forward, ” said Back.
“It will be used in our recyclable materials fleet in long-haul transport and our recyclable materials fleet has been a success story for more than ten years, making a significant contribution to a closed-loop recycling system,” he said.
Leading pharmaceutical company Teva Germany says it has nationwide delivery responsibilities, and is committed to driving sustainable logistics forward.
Teva’s managing director, Andreas Burkhardt, said that as a part of the second testing phase of the GenH2 truck, it is using the truck in long-haul national transport to test another innovative drive technology for decarbonising its fleet.
“Every day, we deliver to hospitals, wholesalers, and pharmacies across Germany while providing valuable real-world feedback to our partner Daimler Truck,” said Burkhardt.
Daimler said that a fuel-cell truck with a gross vehicle weight of around 40 tonnes with a payload of approximately 25 tonnes, its GenH2 truck offers technical specifications on par with modern diesel long-haul trucks.
The company added that Its fuel-cell system delivers a continuous output of up to 300 kW, supported by a small buffer battery to provide situational power support during peak loads and to recover energy during braking.
The truck uses liquid hydrogen as the energy source, which the company claims offers significant advantages over gaseous hydrogen, including higher energy density enabling greater range per tank fill and reduced transport requirements.
Daimler claims this both enhances economic efficiency and sustainability of operations, with refueling taking place at dedicated liquid hydrogen stations.
In the initial trial phase, the five fuel-cell trucks covered more than 225,000 kilometres, with average hydrogen consumption ranging of between 5.6 and 8.0 kilograms per 100 kilometres, depending on use case, and an average combined vehicle weight between 16 and 34 tonnes. So in Australia this would mean an average weight single semi trailer could travel from Sydney to Melbourne using about 80 kilograms of liquid hydrogen.
Daimler says it has in parallel already started developing the next generation of its fuel-cell trucks, and as part of small-series production, a total of 100 prime movers will be built at the Mercedes-plant in Woerth and will be put into customer operations starting at the end of next year.
Daimler says that when it comes to decarbonising transport it is pursuing a dual-track strategy with both battery electric and hydrogen-powered vehicles.
