Daimler Truck says it is ready to roll out its first hydrogen-fuel-cell trucks in customer trials, following a series of tests on the track and public roads.

The German truck manufacturer says Amazon, Air Products, Ineos, Holcim and Wiedmann & Winz will, from mid-2024, take part in first customer trials, in order to gain experience “in carbon-free long-distance transport with fuel-cell trucks”.

The five semi-trailer tractors will be deployed in different long-haul applications on specific routes in Germany, such as the transport of building materials and sea containers.

During these first customer trials the GenH2 trucks remain under the direct supervision and responsibility of Mercedes-Benz Trucks. 

“With this first customer fleet, our fuel-cell trucks are now being tested in real customer operation,” says Daimler Truck truck technology management board member Andreas Gorbach.

“[It’s] a win-win situation for both sides – our customers get to know fuel-cell technology in daily real-life operation, and our engineering team gets to better understand customer needs and relevant use cases, taking them into account for series development.”

Refuelling Technology
The test trucks will be refuelled at designated public liquid hydrogen filling stations. 

For the transformation to carbon-free transport to succeed, it is necessary to roll out international refuelling infrastructure and a sufficient supply of green liquid hydrogen in the coming years, notes Daimler Truck.

The manufacturer adds that it prefers liquid hydrogen in the development of hydrogen-based drives as it has higher energy density while it also cuts transport costs.

“As a result, more hydrogen can be carried, which significantly increases the range and enables comparable performance of the vehicle with that of a conventional diesel truck. 

“Liquid hydrogen tanks also offer advantages in terms of cost and weight. Therefore, the use of liquid hydrogen enables a higher payload.”

For the first time, a new refuelling process for liquid hydrogen will be used in the customer-trial fleet – the so-called sLH2 technology, with sLH2 refering to subcooled liquid hydrogen. 

This technology was developed jointly with Linde.

This approach enables, among other things, higher storage density and easier refuelling, within 10 to 15 minutes, says Daimler Truck.

The company notes that the Mercedes-Benz GenH2 truck offers a payload of about 25 t, at a gross combination weight of 40 t. 

“Two special liquid hydrogen tanks and a particularly powerful cell-centric fuel-cell system enable this high payload and long range.”

The two stainless-steel liquid-hydrogen tanks of the GenH2 truck offers a storage capacity of 88 kg (44 kg each). 

The fuel-cell system of the GenH2 truck delivers 300 kW (2 x150 kW) and the battery provides an additional temporary 400 kW.

 At 70 kWh, the storage capacity of the battery is relatively low, as it is not intended to meet energy needs, but rather 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. 

The battery is recharged through braking energy and excess fuel-cell energy. 

A core element of the fuel-cell and battery system is a cooling and heating system that keeps all components at a suitable operating temperature.