Focus: Big truckmakers bet on hydrogen to extend combustion engine life

Westport Fuel Systems

01/08/2024 06:00

By Christina Amann and Nick Carey
       BERLIN/LONDON, Aug. 1 (Reuters) - 
    Some of the world's biggest truckmakers, including Volvo and
MAN, are reworking combustion engines to run on low-emission
hydrogen instead of polluting diesel, a quicker low-cost fix to
their energy transition challenge that may give the dying
technology a fresh lease of life.  
        The global truck making industry faces a complex
balancing act to get to zero emissions. Electric batteries are
too heavy for long-haul freight operations and take long to
charge. Using hydrogen fuel cells to generate electricity
reduces the weight and extends the range of trucks, but
switching to this technology is expensive as companies need to
design new truck systems.
    That is why truckmakers and their suppliers have shifted
their immediate focus on developing hydrogen combustion engines
as a quicker, cheaper solution that can rely on existing
manufacturing lines that have for years been a key economic
motor for countries like Germany, executives at major truck
brands and their suppliers told Reuters.     
        Concerns over what will happen to thousands of jobs in
engine-making plants have grown as truckmakers shift towards
battery and fuel cell options. 
        "Everybody is working on this," said Reiner Roessner,
vice president for sales at the engine division of MAN Truck &
Bus SE, part of Volkswagen  VOWG_p.DE  trucking unit Traton
 8TRA.DE , even as green hydrogen produced by renewable sources
is not yet widely available. "As soon as the hydrogen is
available, demand for hydrogen combustion will go up."
    In its first pilot project, MAN will deliver around 200
trucks with engines that run on hydrogen to European customers
next year to test in their fleets, a key step on the way towards
mass production.
    Truckmakers are still investing in developing hydrogen fuel
cells as they say there is room for both technologies to exist
side by side for different vehicle types and uses. 
    Swedish truckmaker Volvo AB  VOLVb.ST , which says it will
also have hydrogen fuel cell trucks "commercially available in
the second half of this decade," is planning customer tests of
hydrogen combustion engine models starting in 2026.     
    Hydrogen combustion engines "will not be the majority" of
Volvo's sales, said chief technology officer Lars Stenqvist.   
"But it will be a substantial volume." 
    Anders Johansson, vice president for heavy-duty vehicles at
Vancouver-based Westport Fuel Systems  WRPT.TO , said his
company has already provided fuelling systems for 6,000
combustion engine trucks in Europe that run on natural gas or
biogas and can easily be adapted to hydrogen.
    
    CHALLENGES AHEAD
    Even though the technology is relatively mature, there are
challenges to overcome. 
    Unlike fuel cells, burning hydrogen in an engine can produce
some harmful emissions that Michael Krueger, senior vice
president for engineering at major supplier Bosch  ROBG.UL ,
said will require a filter. 
    Westport's engine system currently uses 1% diesel to ignite
hydrogen, which Johansson said will be reduced and eventually
replaced with a carbon-free fuel.
    Also, hydrogen trucks need pressurized tanks that are larger
than the ones used for diesel, so firms like Munich-based
startup Keyou are working on different shapes to shrink them
down. And the tanks need to be safe under all conditions as
hydrogen is a highly flammable gas.     
    By far the largest problem for hydrogen combustion engines
and fuel cells alike is the scant availability of green
hydrogen.
    The European Union and the United States are funding green
hydrogen projects alongside truck makers like Daimler  DTGGe.DE 
and energy giants like BP  BP.L . But the rollout has been slow,
and it will take years to build up sufficient fueling
infrastructure.
    Despite the challenges, major suppliers like Bosch  ROBG.UL 
and Cummins  CMI.N  say truck makers have embraced the hydrogen
combustion engine because they already have factories and supply
chains dedicated to the technology.
    "We want to be fast. That's why this technology has a role
to play," Bosch's Krueger said.
    Truckmakers from Italy's Iveco Group  IVG.MI  and DAF, a
European unit of U.S. truckmaker PACCAR  PCAR.O , are also
working on hydrogen combustion options.  
    Just last week Germany's Daimler unveiled two prototype
hydrogen combustion engine vehicles.
    U.S.-based Cummins will provide test models to customers in
different regions in the next year or two and should have a
market-ready product within five years, said chief technical
officer Jonathan Wood.
    Rather than leave truck fleets waiting for green hydrogen to
become widely available, some truckmakers and suppliers say
combustion engines running on natural gas or biogas can provide
an interim, lower-emission solution than diesel.
    Cummins' Wood said making a hydrogen combustion engine
involves changing some key components in its natural gas models,
which will allow customers to work their "way down the carbon
emissions curve", from diesel to natural gas then hydrogen.
    As well as being an easier switch for manufacturers, trucks
running on combustion engines will be easier for fleet customers
to handle in the medium term than fuel cell models because it's
a technology they are familiar with, Wood said.
    "This is a game changer without a change," said Westport's
Johansson.
    

 (Christina Amann reported from Berlin and Nick Carey from
London; additional reporting by Sarah McFarlane in London and
Giulio Piovaccari in Milan; Writing by Nick Carey; Editing by
Lisa Jucca)
 ((nick.carey@thomsonreuters.com; +44 7385 414 954;))