Volvo and Daimler bet on hydrogen truck boom this decade

# · 🔥 136 · 💬 360 · 2 years ago · arstechnica.com · samizdis · 📷
Martin Daum, chair of industry leader Daimler Truck, told the Financial Times that, while diesel trucks would dominate sales for the next three to four years, hydrogen would take off as fuel between 2027 and 2030 before going "Steeply up." Martin Lundstedt, chief executive of Volvo Group, which has just bought into a hydrogen joint venture with Daimler, said that, after fuel-cell production started in 2025, there would be a "Much steeper ramp-up" toward the end of the decade. The Swedish truck-maker is aiming for half its European sales in 2030 to be trucks powered by batteries or hydrogen fuel cells, while both groups want to be fully zero emissions by 2040. Hydrogen is viewed as essential for the long-distance heavy trucks that criss-cross Europe, the US, and other parts of the world delivering goods to multiple destinations and where refueling stops need to be as short as possible. Daum, who predicted the split between hydrogen and battery sales would end up being about 50-50, said that to move "40 tonnes up a hill you need an enormous amount of energy" and that, after diesel, the most efficient fuel for such tasks, hydrogen was the best option. Both men urged governments not just to ensure that the necessary fuel infrastructure would be in place for hydrogen but also to provide sufficient incentives for transport companies to shift to greener trucks. About 300 high-performance hydrogen refueling points would be needed in Europe by 2025 and 1,000 by 2030, the companies said.
Volvo and Daimler bet on hydrogen truck boom this decade



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