Daimler Truck is organising the first customer trial fleet of its GenH2 hydrogen fuel cell truck. Five units will be deployed in companies and will cover long-distance routes in Germany.

Amazon, Air Products, Ineos, Holcim and Wiedmann & Winz: these are the companies that will have the privilege of testing the GenH2 for the first time. This is a new step following a phase of rigorous testing on track and on road. “With this first fleet of customers, our hydrogen fuel cell trucks are now being tested under real operating conditions,” comments Andreas Gorbach, Member of the Board of Directors of Daimler Truck, in charge of technology. “It’s a win-win situation for both sides: our customers get to experience fuel cell technology in everyday use, and our engineering team gains a better understanding of customer needs and relevant use cases, and takes them into account for series development.”

The trucks in this first fleet will transport construction materials, sea containers or bottled gas. “We’re looking forward to taking part in this pilot project and learning from it,” says Andreas Marschner, Vice President of Amazon Transportation Services. He also points out that the group is aiming for carbon neutrality by 2040. During these initial customer trials, the GenH2 trucks will remain under the direct supervision and responsibility of Mercedes-Benz Trucks.

A new liquid hydrogen technology

The vehicles will be refuelled at public liquid hydrogen refuelling stations in Wörth-am-Rhein and the Duisburg region. It should be noted that Daimler truck will be inaugurating a new liquid hydrogen refuelling process. It is called “sLH2” (sLH2 = “sub-cooled” liquid hydrogen). This technology was developed jointly with Linde and is available free of charge to all interested companies via an ISO standard. This innovative approach means that the storage density is even higher than LH2. Refuelling is also easier and it can be done in 10 to 15 minutes.

The GenH2 truck uses 300 kW of fuel cells, electric motors of 230 kW each, a 70 kWh battery and two 44 kg tanks each storing liquid hydrogen. Range is over 1,000 km.

Do you want to learn more about Daimler and its hydrogen truck? Then our latest article on the company should interest you. You can read it here.

Article written by Laurent Meillaud and translated by Logan King