The H2Accelerate collaboration is publishing a series of whitepapers in support of the use of hydrogen in long haul trucking, starting with a paper on the ‘Need for hydrogen trucking in Europe’, published in June 2021.

The H2Accelerate companies are agreed that achieving the decarbonisation of the heavy-duty trucking sector will require the use of hydrogen as a fuel for many of the vehicles used by the continent’s vehicle operators.

This paper will set out the basis for this conclusion. Two aspects of the case for hydrogen are considered:

• The role of hydrogen in enabling overall energy system decarbonisation (providing long-term energy storage to balance the energy system and allowing the transport of low carbon energy across the globe).
• The need for hydrogen as the only zero-carbon zero-emission fuel in the heavy-duty trucking sector which can provide a combination of fast refuelling and long ranges between refuels.

These two arguments lead to the conclusion that hydrogen as a fuel for trucking is essential for the decarbonisation of the trucking sector which causes 6%1 of the total European CO2 emissions. This conclusion supports the case for public sector support of the early roll-out and industrialisation of the hydrogen trucking sector in Europe in the period from now to 2030. The H2Accelerate collaboration aims to orchestrate the roll-out by leveraging the expertise and commitments of key truck manufacturing and hydrogen infrastructure players.