Daimler starts customer trials of hydrogen fuel-cell trucks

Daimler Truck is entering the next development phase of its hydrogen fuel cell trucks. After a rigorous testing phase on test tracks and public roads, the Mercedes-Benz GenH2 Trucks have now reached an advanced development stage for deployment into customer fleets.

At the Daimler Truck Test and Development Center in Wurth, Martin Daum, Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler Truck, celebrated the start of the initial customer trials of five Mercedes-Benz GenH2 Truck fuel cell prototype trucks.

The trucks will enter fleets with Amazon, Air Products, Holcim, INEOS and Wiedmann & Winz. These customers have the opportunity to gain practical experience in long-distance transport with fuel cell trucks at an early stage, during one-year trial phase.

From the trials, the Daimler Truck development team will gain valuable insights into the real-life operations of trucks powered by liquid hydrogen, and learn about specific customer requirements that can set them up for series development.

The five GenH2 Trucks will be deployed in different long-haul applications on specific routes in Germany, such as the transport of building materials, sea containers or cylinder gas.

During these first customer trials the vehicles will remain under the direct supervision and responsibility of the manufacturer. The trucks will be refueled at the designated liquid hydrogen filling stations (sLH2) in Wurth and in future also in the Duisburg area.

“When it comes to decarbonizing transport, we are focusing on battery-electric and hydrogen-based drives," said Martin Daum, Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler Truck.

"The transformation can only succeed if green energy is sufficiently and comprehensively available – and for this we need both technologies.

"With regard to hydrogen drives, we are now taking another important step towards series readiness: we are starting the trials of our Mercedes-Benz GenH2 Trucks in real-life daily transport operations with our customers.

"However, it is important to note that high-performance CO2-neutral vehicles alone will not be enough to make sustainable transportation successful. This also requires a corresponding charging and refueling infrastructure, as well as cost parity with conventional vehicles. Although policymakers and energy companies are already active here, we urgently need even more momentum, across entire Europe!”

Daimler says the GenH2 Truck performance is comparable with conventional long-haul trucks.

The development engineers of Daimler Truck have based the GenH2 Truck on the characteristics of the conventional Mercedes-Benz Actros long-haul truck in terms of payload, range and performance.

The Mercedes-Benz GenH2 Trucks, which will be used in these first customer trials, offer a payload of approximately 25 tonnes at a gross combination weight (GCW) of 40 tonnes. Two special liquid hydrogen tanks and a powerful fuel-cell system by cellcentric, the Joint Venture of Daimler Truck and Volvo Group, enable the high payload and long range. They represent the centerpiece of the GenH2 Truck.

The fuel-cell system of the GenH2 Truck delivers 300 kilowatts (2 x 150 kW) and the battery provides an additional 400kW temporarily. At 70kWh, the storage capacity of the battery is relatively low, as it is not intended to meet energy needs, but mainly to be switched on to provide situational power support for the fuel cell, for example during peak loads while accelerating or while driving uphill fully loaded.

At the same time, the relatively light battery allows a higher payload. It is recharged with braking energy and excess fuel-cell energy. A core element of the sophisticated operating strategy of the fuel-cell and battery system is a cooling and heating system that keeps all components at a suitable operating temperature, thus ensuring maximum durability.

The two stainless-steel liquid-hydrogen tanks of the GenH2 Truck have a particularly high storage capacity of 88 kilograms (44kg each), perfectly suited for covering long distances. The stainless-steel tank system consists of two tubes, one within the other, that are vacuum isolated and connected to each other.

Liquid hydrogen enables a range of over 1000 kilometres.