Daimler Truck postpones production of GenH2 hydrogen trucks

GenH2 trucks on customer test in 2024 (Photo: Daimler Truck)

At Daimler Truck’s Capital Market Days, held at the company’s Freightliner and Western Star assembly plant in Cleveland, Ohio, the truck OEM revealed that it is to delay production of its hydrogen fuel cell model from 2027 to some point in the early 2030s.

The news was included in a new strategic roadmap entitled ‘Stronger 2030’. which the German truck maker released in response to ‘unpredictable dynamics caused by external factors’, including energy prices, changes in available subsidies and regulatory requirements.

It was only in mid-2024 that Daimler Truck reported that GenH2 trucks had started testing with five customers, Air Products, Amazon, Holcim, Ineos and Wiedmann & Winz.

While the case for hub-to-hub transport using hydrogen as a primary fuel remains in play, the price of H2 has remained stubbornly high. This, despite a series of companies planning investment to increase hydrogen output.

it should be noted that per-kilo prices of hydrogen vary to such a degree by region that it is impossible to give an accurate blanket price.

Such is the high cost of hydrogen that Paris-headquartered taxi company Hype, which had about 700 H2-fuel taxis operating in the city, announced in June this year that it would switch its fleet to battery-electric vehicles.

The company, which had installed 10 hydrogen charging stations, blamed the dominance of some key suppliers as a reason for H2 prices remaining high.

Hype is still reported to be open to other hydrogen-based projects, including those in heavy transport.

Going back to Daimler Truck and the decision to postpone the commercial launch of the GenH2, it appears that the high price of hydrogen and limited fuel availability, further compounded by the high retail price of the trucks, has had a direct impact on when the OEM will plan a market launch.

Instead, Daimler Truck is now apparently setting a ‘pragmatic’ course which will see the company gauge regional interest in a given technology before moving ahead with a related product launch as part of a ‘modular technology strategy’.