Battery electric vehicles (BEV) or hydrogen-fuelled trucks, that is the question. Well, it’s certainly one of the many questions that truck and HGV manufacturers are asking themselves, and it’s a question that will occupy HGV fleet owners’ minds soon enough.
Having worked in truck and HGV fleet insurance for over 20 years, I’ve come to expect the unexpected from the fleet industry. When the VW diesel scandal broke in 2015, some suggested that this would be the gateway to electric vehicles. I was sceptical (to put it mildly) being someone who is old enough to remember the early morning whirr of milk floats, to date the most successful electric commercial vehicles this country has ever seen, I couldn’t see them working out. But roll on ten years and it seems I was wrong. As of December 2024, there were 1.36 million BEV cars on the UK’s roads which can be charged at over 70,000 public charging points according to Zapmap. Despite a recent fall in demand for EVs from private motorists, business car and fleet drivers are fuelling demand for them to the extent that BEVs are no longer the future, they are the present. So, what about electric heavy goods vehicles (eHGVs)?
eHGVs have proved a more challenging proposition. The loads involved and the distances that hauliers need to travel have meant electric lorries have struggled to get going. According to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) while demand for electric lorries is rising year-on-year, under 500 are currently on the UK’s roads, constituting just 1% of the UK’s total fleet of HGVs. Major HGV fleet owners including Nestlé, Amazon, and the Royal Mail all have eHGVs in service, but these rely on in-house charging points and form a small part of their overall complement of vehicles. The Road Haulage Association has campaigned for some time for the government to provide charging infrastructure (there are currently no public charging points for lorries in the UK) and the ‘Electric Freightway’ project will do just that. This £100m initiative is being funded by the Department for Transport and will deliver 10 commercial charging stations for eHGV drivers by 2030. With major manufacturers such as DAF, Volvo, Renault, and MAN already having eHGVs on the market, it does seem that electric trucks will one day be the norm and represent the future for trucks.
Why then is there so much talk about hydrogen-fuelled trucks?
Hydrogen-fuelled fleets are attractive in many ways. They’re far more sustainable than electric vehicles, don’t have the range issues, and filling up is (theoretically) as quick as filling up a diesel. But are hydrogen-fuelled trucks the next big thing or are they just a pipe dream? In this blog, I’ll examine the pros and cons of hydrogen-fuelled lorries and consider their suitability for truck fleets.
Hydrogen-Powered Vehicles: The Pros
Hydrogen-powered vehicles – especially hydrogen-fuelled trucks and commercial vehicles – have been vaunted as a potential green game changer, but what are the advantages of hydrogen-powered fleet vehicles? The main ones are:
- Sustainability– sustainability has become a watchword for fleet owners. It’s a word that recognises the necessity of having vehicle fleets while looking for ones that can be used over the long term. In that context, hydrogen is a great choice. Hydrogen not only offers a zero-emission power source, but it’s also renewable and can be produced from various sources, including gas, nuclear power, and wind on demand. Batteries for BEVs involve rare elements like cobalt, lithium, and nickel, none of which are renewable, and which often involve intensive mining techniques.
- Better than batteries– while the car fleet world has been focused on electric vehicles, concerns over power and range have continued to dog their use for commercial vehicles, especially when it comes to construction plant and trucks. While the likes of John Deere have electric plant vehicles on the market, and Tesla and Daimler have produced electrically powered trucks, these are yet to be proven in the field. Batteries for these vehicles are large, expensive to replace, have a limited lifespan, and struggle to produce enough power over long ranges, problems that hydrogen isn’t afflicted by. Hydrogen cells’ efficiency is also far less affected by speed and cold weather than a battery electric vehicle giving fleets greater confidence in operating them over the winter. Interestingly, the early hydrogen adopters at Toyota have said they will focus on commercial vehicles from here on as they offer the most value.
- Established technology– even the most ardent BEV advocate will admit that electric vehicle technology is in its infancy whereas hydrogen vehicles work on an internal combustion engine basis. The only real difference is that it burns hydrogen rather than diesel or petrol. So, when it comes to development and maintenance, hydrogen vehicles have the advantage of building on tried and tested technology.
- Running costs– the cost of hydrogen as a fuel is approximately half that of diesel. Fleet owners have had to deal with sharp fuel price rises over the past few years, and the prospect of cutting these must make them an attractive proposition. It’s likely that duty levels on hydrogen will also be lower as will be any congestion charges.
- Long-lived fuel cells– unlike batteries which have (as it stands) relatively short lives, hydrogen fuel cells can last for a long time. They are also quick to refill and are expected to match diesel in terms of vehicle range soon.
- Fast re-fuelling times – one of the main drawbacks of BEVs has been charging times. Historically, car fleet owners when faced with a charging time measured in hours often took the decision to stick with diesel as these can be refilled in seconds. While superfast chargers and more efficient batteries have cut car charging times to as little as 15 minutes, charging an eHGV’s batteries still takes between 30 minutes and an hour to get to 80% charged (ElectrAssure figures). Hydrogen cells on the other hand can be refilled in seconds.
Hydrogen-Powered Vehicles: The Cons
Rarely do revolutionary innovations come without downsides, and hydrogen-fuelled vehicles are no different as the following shows:
- Hydrogen-powered trucks will be expensive – the cost of electric cars and BEV commercial vehicles are considerably higher than for their fossil-fuelled equivalents and the same will apply to hydrogen-fuelled trucks. Manufacturers will need to pay off the huge investment costs in developing them, and while the cost-per-mile savings are there, it will take many years for owners to recoup the extra expense. While BMW has committed to having hydrogen cars available by 2030, there’s been no mention of prices, while the Toyota Mirai, a fairly standard four-door salon that runs on hydrogen cost an eyewatering £50,000 when it came out in 2021. Hydrogen-fuelled trucks will be relatively expensive, and while these costs can be offset over time, it’s likely they will take time to be adopted hauliers.
The technology involved is complex and requires extremely high pressure to make it work in addition to safe storage systems for the hydrogen itself. Precious metals such as platinum and iridium are typically required as catalysts in fuel cells, which means that the initial cost of the required fuel cells and electrolysers is high. Hydrogen is also expensive to transport, which could add to vehicle owners’ costs. Extra cost is the last thing the UK haulage sector needs, and while a change in HGV fleets will have to come by 2040 when the ban on the sale of new diesel trucks comes into force, it seems that only firms with exceptionally deep pockets will be able to choose hydrogen-fuelled trucks over eHGVs.
- Lack of refuelling points– this is something that held back EV fleet adoption for years. While there are now more charging points than petrol stations with 70,000 dotted around the UK, and the speed of charging has improved, hydrogen is coming from a standing start with just 5 publicly accessible filling stations. Unlike adding electric charging points to homes, depots, logistics hubs or repurposing streetlights, adding a supply of hydrogen isn’t something that will happen any time soon either. Electricity has flowed freely to homes and businesses for nearly a century having become common in the 1930s. Presently there’s no distribution model for transporting hydrogen to depots and the costs of doing so will be high.
- Is hydrogen sustainable? – while hydrogen vehicles are emission-free – all that comes out of the exhaust pipe is water – creating the fuel isn’t. At present, most hydrogen is produced using natural gas and produces enormous emissions in the process. Speaking to Fleet News Colin Herron, Professor of Practice at Newcastle University pointed out how ‘…you need one wind turbine to charge an electric truck, you need two-and-a-half turbines for a hydrogen truck. The efficiency losses are huge. People talk about using hydrogen to store energy, but you need a lot of electricity to make the hydrogen, and then you’ve got to convert it back. It’s a very good way of losing a lot of what you want to store.’ While electric vehicles aren’t (yet) truly emission-free, the electricity needs to be generated somewhere and that involves emissions, they are a lot greener than hydrogen at present. While it can be produced by using nuclear and wind power, this technology isn’t commercially viable. If they can create hydrogen from renewal energy – and most experts think it can be done – then hydrogen will be a truly green fuel, but we’re not there yet alas.
- Safety and storage issues – hydrogen is extremely flammable. Ignition can occur at a volumetric ratio of hydrogen to air as low as 4. Put simply, it’s not that stable and it would need careful handling, especially as its flame is almost invisible in daylight. Again, the technology exists but only in industrial settings and for hydrogen to be deemed a suitable fuel for trucks, commercial hydrogen filling stations will need to be created.
- Public acceptance and legal issues – public acceptance could be a problem. Hydrogen isn’t stable and accidents need careful and specialist treatment – water won’t cut it. Legally there are likely to be constraints too. If a hydrogen fuel cell were to rupture in a collision, the effects could be devastating and not just for those in the vehicle.
- Insurance – truck insurance is a legal requirement and HGV insurance quotes have risen in the wake of the pandemic as insurers become ever more risk-averse. Hydrogen brings a whole new world of risks to bear. There are public liability issues around filling and storage, and if a hydrogen-fuelled truck were to be involved in an accident and the cells ruptured, the potential costs from injuries, dealing with the problem and repairing the vehicle could be huge. Such issues will be poured over by underwriters and firms who are bold enough to take on a hydrogen truck will likely have to pay a premium.
Hydrogen-Fuelled Fleets: Pipe Dream Or The Next Big Thing?
For all the negativity surrounding hydrogen-fuelled HGVs, I believe we are looking at a hydrogen-fuelled HGV fleet future. Electric vehicles aren’t as green as they are cracked up to be, batteries are still limited in terms of range and lifespan, and they simply aren’t suitable for commercial vehicles or truck fleets. What’s needed is time and investment and the latter is already falling into place. The Government will spend more than £170 million from the Net Zero Innovation Portfolio on hydrogen innovation, including specific projects such as the £19m Tees Valley Hydrogen Transport Hub. The HyHaul initiative has £30m support from the Government and will see a minimum of 30 hydrogen fuel cell vehicles operating on the M4 corridor, supported by four public filling stations, by 2026. Manufacturers are also getting in on the act. Toyota, Nikola Corporation, Hyzon Motors, Cummins, and Volvo Truck all have hydrogen trucks in the works and more will doubtless follow.
To my mind hydrogen is where electric vehicles were a decade ago; the ideal but no one was too sure how to make them a reality. Now that the big car manufacturers are making moves towards hydrogen, and with the UK Government committed to hydrogen vehicle manufacturing, things should start to move. Yes, we’ll need yet another set of infrastructure, and yes, we’ll see another influx of expensive new models in the short term. But if we’re looking for truly sustainable trucks, this must be the way to go.
Aaron
Aaron Hodson
Founder of Instatruck
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