MAN to produce hydrogen trucks in 2025

The initially planned ‘small series’ of around 200 units is to be delivered to customers in Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Iceland and selected non-European countries as early as 2025.

The MAN hTGX, as the truck will be called, offers an alternative zero-emission drive variant for special applications such as construction work, tank transport or timber transport. The hTGX can also be an environmentally friendly alternative to battery-electric trucks for use in areas without sufficient charging infrastructure or for markets where sufficient hydrogen is already available.

MAN said it will hand over its battery-electric truck to customers for the first time in 2024 and scale it up from 2025. MAN has been the market leader for electric city buses in Europe since 2023.

"We are continuing to focus on battery-electric vehicles to decarbonise road freight transport,” said Friedrich Baumann, Executive Board Member of MAN Truck & Bus and responsible for Sales and Customer Solutions.

“These currently have clear advantages over other drive concepts in terms of energy efficiency and operating and energy costs. However, trucks powered by hydrogen combustion engines are a useful addition for special applications and markets,” he added.

“For special applications, hydrogen combustion or, in the future, fuel cell technology is a suitable supplement [to battery electric]. The H45 hydrogen combustion engine is based on the proven D38 diesel engine and is produced at the engine and battery plant in Nuremberg.

“With the hTGX, we have now added an attractive product to our zero-emission portfolio," Mr Baumann said.

MAN said in a press statement that the hTGX offers high payloads and maximum ranges of up to 600 kilometres and it will be initially offered 6x2 and 6x4 axle variants. The H45 hydrogen combustion engine used has an output of 520hp and a torque of 2500Nm at 900-1300rpm. The direct injection of hydrogen into the engine ensures particularly fast power delivery. With hydrogen compressed to 700 bar (CG H2) and a tank capacity of 56kg, the vehicle can be refuelled in less than 15 minutes. The MAN hTGX will fulfil the criteria as a "zero-emission vehicle" under the new planned EU CO2 legislation.

Dr Frederik Zohm, Executive Board Member for Research and Development, added: "At MAN's Nuremberg site, we have the most innovative engine technology and decades of experience in the use of hydrogen as a fuel.

“We are utilising this and presenting a real MAN with the MAN hTGX. The new hydrogen combustion truck is based on the tried-and-tested TG vehicle series and impresses with the highest quality and uncomplicated maintenance.

MAN has a long-standing history with hydrogen drives, the company has been researching them for decades. MAN Truck & Bus presented the first hydrogen-powered bus at the Hanover Fair in 1996. The SL 202 city bus was powered by a natural gas engine that had been modified for hydrogen operation.

Following the Hanover Fair, the vehicle completed a three-quarter year test phase in Erlangen, during which it travelled 13,000 kilometres and carried 60,000 passengers. The bus finally arrived in Munich in 1997 and was successfully deployed in regular service there.

This was followed in 1998 by three articulated buses for Munich Airport, which were used until 2008, and a further 14 hydrogen-powered buses between 2006 and 2009.