NORTH AMERICA REPORT
During the past few years there has been plenty of talk about battery electric power replacing diesel-powered internal combustion engines in commercial trucks. At some point this might be true for short and regional haul freight carriers, but what about the long-haul heavy truck segment?
Currently, the lack of a sufficient charging infrastructure, range anxiety and the extreme weights associated with the batteries are significant deterrents to mass adoption of long-haul battery electric trucks. However, hydrogen fuel cell trucks for long-haul applications appear to be a viable option in this segment. Even though fuel cell trucks currently have a greater range and lighter weight than battery electric trucks, they have the same problem as electric trucks: a lack of refueling infrastructure.
European Outlook. According to a Hydrogen Council study, in 2019 there were approximately 170 operational hydrogen re-fueling stations in Europe with a goal of adding 3,700 stations by 2030. At the end of 2021, hydrogen re-fueling stations had increased to 228 stations across Europe. Increasing the number of re-fueling stations to 3,700 by 2030 seems like a lofty goal.
How can this possibly be achieved? The EU will likely provide subsidies for the infrastructure, but it will be the private sector that will likely drive this. The initial OEMs in the European FCEV (fuel cell electric vehicle) market are Daimler, Volvo, Iveco and Nikola. TRATON which owns the MAN and Scania brands is currently more focused on the EV market.
Last year, Shell and Daimler announced the rollout of a hydrogen-based trucking initiative in which Shell would initially establish a hydrogen-refueling network joining the Port of Rotterdam with Cologne and Hamburg, creating an infrastructure corridor. At the same time, Daimler said it plans to introduce hydrogen fuel cell trucks to customers, starting in 2025. The corridor is expected to cover 1,200 kilometers with 150 hydrogen re-fueling stations. Daimler plans to introduce approximately 5,000 heavy duty fuel cell trucks by 2030. This is a good initiative, but more of these types of ventures will be needed for mass adoption of hydrogen fuel cell trucks to take place.
In April 2021, Daimler and Volvo announced a joint venture known as Cellcentric to jointly manufacture hydrogen fuel cells for trucks in Europe, starting in 2025. It called upon European Union policymakers to boost incentives for climate-neutral technologies. The plan is to begin testing fuel cell trucks in 2023 or 2024 and launch mass production by the end of this decade.
Daimler and Volvo are also pushing the EU to add incentives including taxing carbon and emissions trading credits to make up for the higher cost of climate-neutral trucks. Daimler and Volvo have also cited the need for 300 high-performance hydrogen refueling stations for heavy-duty vehicles by 2025 and 1,000 stations by 2030. Both companies have stated that battery electric trucks will work for short haul applications, but hydrogen fuel cells should play a major role in the longer haul segment. It should be noted that Daimler and Volvo will continue to be competitors even though they share this joint venture.
The EU recently announced that in some circumstances natural gas will be considered a green energy which will be beneficial to the production of hydrogen fuel. Prior to this announcement it would have been very difficult to produce enough green hydrogen to support the type of fueling infrastructure required for mass adoption of hydrogen fueled vehicles.
The takeaway from these initiatives is that Europe is starting to organize and focus on the need for additional hydrogen fueling infrastructure to help meet their climate objectives for the next decade.
In North America, the path for hydrogen fuel cell vehicles is not so clear. Currently, there are 107 hydrogen fueling stations in the United States, most of which are located in California. According to the US government, the goal is to have 200 hydrogen stations in California by 2025. By 2030, a total of 1,000 stations in the state is “envisioned,” according to GLPAUTOGAS.
The sheer size of the United States and Canada will certainly make it challenging to develop a significant re-fueling infrastructure in the near to mid-term.
Last September, Nikola signed a memorandum of understanding with Opal Fuels to build and operate hydrogen fueling stations across North America. Under the preliminary agreement, the two companies will work to co-develop the technology necessary to accelerate the adoption of fuel-cell electric vehicles.
Also last year, Nikola and Travel Centers of America agreed to collaborate on the installation of hydrogen fueling stations for heavy-duty trucks at two existing TA stations. This collaboration is a first step for the parties to explore the mutual development of a nationwide network of hydrogen fueling stations. Nikola’s original plan was to develop a network of around 700 hydrogen stations in the U.S. and Canada to support its Class 8 fuel cell trucks which recently started production at their Coolidge plant in Arizona.
This year, Congress introduced the “Hydrogen for Trucks Act” to support the adoption of heavy-duty hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and hydrogen fueling stations. This act would incentivize the adoption of heavy-duty hydrogen fuel cell vehicles by covering the cost difference between these vehicles and traditional diesel vehicles and encourage parallel deployment of vehicles and fueling stations.
The act would also provide data and benchmarks for different types of fleet operations, thereby incentivizing private investment and accelerating deployment.
The United States and Canada are moving forward in the development of FCEV’s and the re-fueling infrastructure to support them, but it is going to take some time before significant adoption in the regional and long-haul segment can occur. PSR
Chris Fisher is Senior Commercial Vehicle Analyst at Power Systems Research
