Key takeaways:
- Applications under Germany’s NOW funding programme cover more than 800 hydrogen trucks and over 70 high-capacity filling stations.
- Planned hydrogen stations are being developed to handle up to 100 trucks per day.
- Daimler Truck intends to put 100 next-generation fuel-cell trucks into customer operations from the end of 2026.
- The group wants Germany’s combination of vehicle subsidies, fuel support and zero-emission toll incentives replicated elsewhere in Europe.
The plans were presented at IAA Transportation in Hanover by Daimler Truck, Volvo Group, Toyota Motor Corporation, Bosch, Air Liquide, TotalEnergies, TEAL Mobility and MB Energy. Rather than focusing only on vehicle development, the companies are attempting to coordinate trucks, hydrogen production, distribution and filling infrastructure simultaneously. Germany is intended to provide the first large-scale testing ground for the model.
According to Daimler Truck and Volvo Group, recent applications under Germany’s NOW funding programme were oversubscribed, with industrial companies seeking support for more than 800 heavy-duty hydrogen trucks and over 70 high-capacity filling stations.
The partners are also working towards hydrogen stations capable of refuelling up to 100 trucks per day.
The companies argue that coordinating vehicle deployment and filling infrastructure is necessary to avoid one of the longstanding problems facing hydrogen transport: operators being reluctant to buy trucks without sufficient filling stations, while infrastructure investors hesitate to build stations without guaranteed vehicle demand.
Daimler preparing 100 fuel-cell trucks
Daimler Truck said customers have so far covered almost 600,000 kilometres with its fuel-cell trucks. The manufacturer plans to place a small series of 100 next-generation fuel-cell trucks into customer operations from the end of 2026. It is also preparing hydrogen combustion-engine trucks for market launch in 2027 and says it will invest a mid-three-digit-million-euro amount in hydrogen trucks by the end of the decade.
Volvo Group is meanwhile continuing development of both fuel-cell and hydrogen combustion trucks, with market introduction targeted towards 2030. Toyota will contribute fuel-cell technology, while Bosch is supplying components for gaseous-hydrogen vehicles as well as refuelling technology for both gaseous and liquid hydrogen. Bosch says its fuel-cell system has already accumulated more than 30 million kilometres of road operation.
Three measures intended to close the cost gap with diesel
The companies acknowledge that hydrogen trucks will need to become economically competitive with diesel before operators adopt them at scale.
Their German model relies on three main mechanisms: subsidies and series production to reduce vehicle prices; hydrogen supply and greenhouse-gas quota mechanisms intended to bring pump prices closer to diesel-equivalent operating costs; and operating incentives such as Germany’s toll exemption for zero-emission HGVs.
Energy companies Air Liquide, TotalEnergies and MB Energy are working alongside truck manufacturers on hydrogen supply, while MB Energy and TEAL Mobility — the joint venture between TotalEnergies and Air Liquide — are involved in filling infrastructure.
Both gaseous and liquid hydrogen are included in the programme.
The participating companies are now calling on other European governments and the European Commission to follow the German approach. Their proposals include coordinating funding for trucks and filling stations, using renewable-fuel credit mechanisms and toll incentives, and supporting investment throughout the hydrogen supply chain.
The initiative does not yet amount to a firm Europe-wide deployment schedule. Instead, the companies are presenting Germany as a model they believe could make commercial-scale hydrogen trucking possible by 2030, provided similar policy support is introduced elsewhere.
