![](images/Logos/Engineering%20News%20Logo.jpg)
July 20, 2023
By
Bloomberg
Truckers Eye Combustion Engine Future by Burning Hydrogen
Daimler Truck Holding is
pushing a fringe technology as an alternative to batteries and fuel
cells in the shift to zero-emission
rigs.
The advantage? It combusts hydrogen and would be based on the truckmaker’s
well-honed diesel engines.
The world’s biggest
commercial-vehicle maker is working on a potential partnership to
develop hydrogen combustion engines — a technology long targeting only
niche vehicles with heavy payloads in mining, construction or
agriculture. Last week, the German company said it’s ready to apply it
to heavy-duty trucks once authorities classify it as zero-emission.
The move, essentially prolonging the lifespan of a technology headed
for the exit, comes as incumbent truckmakers face the daunting task of
developing battery trucks that require (as of yet non-existent)
fast-charging points with energy needs akin to small towns, and
complex fuel-cell technology. Suppliers are also jumping on the
bandwagon. Germany’s Robert Bosch, the world’s biggest vehicle
supplier and diesel technology leader, is working on a hydrogen engine
and expects to launch a related product next year. Cummins Inc. last
year showed off a hydrogen combustion concept truck at a
transportation show in Hanover, Germany, and parts maker Mahle GmbH
also is backing the technology.
Because hydrogen combustion is similar to the traditional gasoline
engine, a shift could happen “much faster than anything else we have
to do with electrification,” Michael Brecht, deputy chair of Daimler
Truck’s supervisory board and the company’s top employee
representative, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. He
added that any cost cuts the company is planning to bolster returns
should not affect investments in new technologies that could safeguard
the truckmaker’s future.
The technology has plenty of drawbacks. Hydrogen combustion engines
still are using oil-based lubricants, meaning they’re not completely
carbon-free when burning liquid or gaseous hydrogen. Because the
process happens at very high temperatures, it may also lead to higher
nitric oxide emissions and lower efficiency. There’s also limited
availability of hydrogen fuel, at least in the short term. BMW tried
its hand at the technology for three years in the 2000s but abandoned
the push when it failed to prove viable.
While companies and academia are already working on some of the
solvable downsides of hydrogen combustion, there’s one more
development that speaks against using the technology on a large scale:
the rapid improvement of batteries.
“In the next several years, battery truck economics will begin to
undercut those of diesel ones in increasingly more duty cycles and
segments, and even become competitive for long-haul duty cycles,” said
BloombergNEF analyst Nikolas Soulopoulos. “If someone wanted to do
hydrogen, it seems more reasonable to do fuel cells, as there is quite
some technology overlap.”
All that hasn’t stopped Daimler Truck and a group of like-minded
companies to lobby the European Union to consider the technology as
the bloc targets to become climate-neutral by mid-century. The EU
Commission earlier this year proposed more stringent
emissions-reduction targets for new heavy-duty vehicles and suggested
classifiying hydrogen combustion vehicles as zero-emission, with a
final decision by European lawmakers and member states expected for
next year.
Critics say the German focus on hydrogen combustion engines is just
another attempt by companies in Europe’s biggest economy to retain
traditional engines, but label them green. In March, Germany’s push to
secure assurances from Brussels on e-fuels — a prohibitively expensive
technology that’s virtually unavailable — almost derailed the EU’s bid
to effectively ban new combustion-engine cars from 2035.
Brecht said hydrogen combustion engines could help Europe reach its
emission-reduction goals faster, while safeguarding jobs that would
otherwise be put at risk amid a more aggressive shift to batteries.
Daimler Truck, which employs more than 100,000 workers globally, last
week said it’s targeting a return of more than 12% by the end of the
decade — a goal that’s expected to require cost reductions. The
manufacturer also announced a €2 billion ($2.2 billion) share buyback
program.
Brecht said any potential cutbacks mustn’t crimp investments in new
technologies such as electric motors, autonomous driving and the
newly-backed hydrogen combustion engine.
“Precisely because we are at the beginning of the transformation, we
want the company to invest more than it cuts back,” he said.
Edited by Bloomberg
Green Play Ammonia™, Yielder® NFuel Energy.
Spokane, Washington. 99212
www.exactrix.com
509 995 1879 cell, Pacific.
Nathan1@greenplayammonia.com
exactrix@exactrix.com
|