To Extend Combustion Engine Life: “Big Truckmakers Bet on Hydrogen”

As a faster, less expensive solution to their energy transition problem, some of the largest truck manufacturers in the world, such as Volvo and MAN, are modifying combustion engines to operate on low-emission hydrogen instead of polluting diesel. This move might breathe new life into the aging technology.

To achieve zero emissions, the global truck manufacturing sector must perform a difficult balancing act. Electric batteries require a long time to charge and are too heavy for long-haul freight operations. Trucks can carry less weight and travel farther when they run on hydrogen fuel cells, but the cost of adopting this technology is high since new vehicle systems must be designed.

For this reason, truck manufacturers and their suppliers have immediately turned their attention to creating hydrogen combustion engines as a more expedient and less expensive alternative that can utilize the production lines already in place, which have long been a vital economic engine for nations such as Germany.

Even if green hydrogen made from renewable resources is not yet publicly accessible, "everyone is working on this," according to Reiner Roessner, vice president for sales at the engine business of MAN Truck & Bus SE , a branch of Volkswagen trucking company Traton. "As soon as the hydrogen is available, demand for hydrogen combustion will go up."

As part of its first pilot project, MAN will provide 200 or so trucks with hydrogen-powered engines to clients in Europe next year so they may test the technology in their fleets. This is a significant step towards mass manufacturing.?Truck manufacturers maintain their investment in the development of hydrogen fuel cells, arguing that both technologies can?coexist for a variety of vehicle applications.

The Swedish truck manufacturer Volvo AB plans to begin customer testing of hydrogen combustion engine models in 2026. The company also said that it will have hydrogen fuel cell trucks "commercially available in the second half of this decade."

According to Chief Technology Officer Lars Stenqvist, Volvo's sales "will not be the majority" of hydrogen-powered vehicles. "But it will be a substantial volume."

Vice President for heavy-duty vehicles at Vancouver, British Columbia-based Westport Fuel Systems, Anders Johansson, said his business has already supplied fueling systems for 6,000 combustion engine trucks operating in Europe on biogas or natural gas, with easy conversion to hydrogen.