Daimler’s fuel-cell truck – the Mercedes-Benz GenH2 has been seen going through its paces on track.
The hydrogen truck is planning to offer a range of 1,000km by the time it starts customer trials in 2023.
Furthermore, it has been announced that the first series-production models will be handed over in 2027.
Testing on public roads has been scheduled by Daimler Trucks for the end of 2021.
The company is focusing on hydrogen-powered fuel cells for the electrification of its long-haul vehicles.
Development engineers working on Daimler’s fuel-cell truck will use the same test regime as standard models.
Therefore, prototypes will cover 1.2 million kilometres over a 10-year period – or 25,000 hours.
Already, the vehicles have covered many miles on a road-to-rig test stand and also undergone extreme testing.
The GenH2 features brand new components to the truck manufacturer, such as the fuel cell system.
In addition, the all-electric powertrain and the cooling unit are bespoke to Daimler Trucks.
Liquid hydrogen is being used as a power source for a truck because of energy density advantages.
As a result, Daimler engineers are currently looking into tank technologies and hope to have a prototype tanks created this year.
The current test vehicle has a payload of 25 tonnes, for a gross vehicle weight of 40 tonnes.
These specifications are the planned numbers for the series production models.
Daimler’s chairman of the board, Martin Daum, explained why hydrogen was chosen.
“We are consistently pursuing our technology strategy for the electrification of our trucks,” he said.
“We want to offer our customers the best locally CO2-neutral trucks — powered by either batteries or hydrogen-based fuel-cells.
“I’m delighted that the rigorous tests of the GenH2 Truck have started successfully.”
