Fuel-Cell Revolution: Daimler Truck Pioneers Decarbonisation with Mercedes-Benz GenH2 Trial Fleet

[Caribbeans]

Fuel-Cell Revolution: Daimler Truck Pioneers Decarbonisation with Mercedes-Benz GenH2 Trial Fleet

The five semi-trailer tractors are slated for deployment in diverse long-haul applications across specific routes in Germany, encompassing the transportation of building materials, sea containers, and cylinder gases.

Mobility Outlook Bureau | 24 Dec 2023

In a ground breaking move towards decarbonising the transportation sector, Daimler Truck is set to roll out the first customer-trial fleet of Mercedes-Benz GenH2 Trucks by mid-2024. Amazon, Air Products, INEOS, Holcim, and Wiedmann & Winz are among the key industry players participating in the inaugural phase of customer trials, marking a significant leap in the adoption of fuel-cell technology for long-distance transport.

The five semi-trailer tractors are slated for deployment in diverse long-haul applications across specific routes in Germany, encompassing the transportation of building materials, sea containers, and cylinder gases. This initiative underscores Daimler Truck's commitment to real-world testing, allowing customers to experience the potential of fuel-cell technology in daily operations while providing invaluable insights for ongoing series development.

Andreas Gorbach, Member of the Board of Management of Daimler Truck AG, overseeing Truck Technology, highlighted the mutual benefits of this venture, stating, “With this first customer fleet, our fuel-cell trucks are now being tested in real customer operation. 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.”

Leading the Charge: Key Participants in the Customer Trials

Among the companies at the forefront of this transformative journey is Wiedmann & Winz, based in Geislingen an der Steige (Baden-Württemberg). The logistics service provider will trial the Mercedes-Benz GenH2 Truck, transporting sea containers for DP World, showcasing the vehicle's potential on pan-European logistic routes. Managing Director Dr Micha Lege emphasized the company's commitment to innovation, stating, “Now we are looking forward to taking the next step with the GenH2 Truck, testing a long-haul truck with hydrogen fuel-cell drive.”

Driving Innovation: Liquid Hydrogen Technology Takes Centre Stage...more
https://www.mobilityoutlook.com/features/fuel-cell-revolution-daimler-truck-pioneers-decarbonisation-with-mercedes-benz-genh2-trial-fleet/

[Caribbeans]

1. To those who say building a hydrogen infrastructure is "too hard"

First of all, that's an insult to Americans who - a few decades ago - could literally do anything.

Second, Germany can do it.


https://h2-mobility.de/en/our-h2-stations/

H2 stations can be added to existing gas stations - at least in Germany

Here's Dresden - at EUR 11.00 Kg, at least 1/3rd the cost of H2 in the fledgling and frequently unavailable CA hydrogen stations



A German who ought to know says "Hydrogen Stations are not rocket science"

[flashman13]

2. IMHO batteries are a dead end for transportation for multiple reasons.

Hydrogen is definitely the way to the future. Just one example of hydrogen's superiority: it will be much less expensive, easier, and far less damaging to the environment to build out the infrastructure necessary to fuel hydrogen vehicles in the real world than it would be to build out the infrastructure to power tens of millions of battery powered vehicles.

It's a thought. Feel free to disagree.

I'll post a long essay on the subject in the near future.

[NNadir]

3. It takes and wastes energy to makes energy to make hydrogen, and BASF has been closing it's hydrogen plants.

BASF is cutting back at its main site in Germany

Subtitle:

The company says high energy prices are forcing it to shut plants at its Ludwigshafen complex

by Alexander H. Tullo C&ENews.

Excerpts:

High energy prices have already struck a blow to European competitiveness in chemical manufacturing. They are now prompting BASF to lay off thousands of workers and shut down sections of its flagship facility in Ludwigshafen, Germany....

...The war in Ukraine has sharply reduced natural gas supplies in Europe and boosted BASF’s energy bill on the continent by $2.9 billion in 2022. In Germany, overall chemical industry production decreased by 12% last year....

...The company is closing one of two plants in Ludwigshafen that make ammonia, the largest consumer of natural gas as a raw material at the site. It is also shutting downstream nitrogen fertilizer facilities...

The last excerpt refers to the ammonia plants that are main users of hydrogen in Germany and on the whole fucking planet.

Ammonia is made in the Haber-Bosch process, invented in Germany, to hydrogenate nitrogen to ammonia. Note however that while Germany makes hydrogen from natural gas, in China (and India) it's made from coal steam reforming.

We can note in this Potemkin hydrogen for trucks demo an deeper expression of Germany's contempt for climate change. The nation is generating currently a history showing that it shuts clean energy to embrace dirty energy, currently coal until Putin turns their gas on to pay for his war debts, and this awful announcement of hydrogen vehicles, in a coal burning hellhole, is more of the same. Between the exergy destruction required to make hydrogen from fossil fuels in the first place, and then worse to compress cool and transport it, Germany is living up to its recent record of embracing the rhetoric of fossil fuel salespeople here and elsewhere, a cheap "bait and switch" 3 card monte game.

Making hydrogen in Germany for the purpose of trucking should deeply offend anyone with a modicum of technical knowledge and a shred of decency. Fossil fuel sales people, rebranding their product as "hydrogen," here and elsewhere and their "I agree with you..." salesbots of course lack a sense of decency.