Environmental and Transportation Economics Sebastien Tison & Ruben Vandenbussche

Is hydrogen a better alternative for trucks

then batteries?
Introduction
With electric battery-powered cars becoming a very popular thing and gaining a lot in market share
(almost 16 percent in Europe) over the last couple of years, people are starting to question when we
are going to start seeing more electric trucks on our roads. Especially now with diesel prices being
kicked through the roof in Europe. However, putting a battery in a truck is a little bit more
complicated than we might expect. Putting a modern lithium-ion battery into a common 44-tonne
truck would add several tonnes of weight to the truck and would also dramatically reduce the available
space for freight on the truck. Next to that is the current battery technology also limited in range (+/-
275 kilometres) and has a pretty long charging time. All these characteristics are not things a haulier is
looking for.
In recent years, the use of hydrogen fuel cells in the transport sector has gained increasing attention as
a potential replacement of battery-powered electric vehicles, as it could further reduce emissions and
increase energy security. The European Commission, in particular, has shown a strong interest in the
development of this technology, with a number of initiatives aimed at promoting the use of hydrogen
fuel cells in the transport sector. However, the truck making companies still have not decided which
technology is the better one. On the one hand we have Traton, Volkswagen’s truck unit with brands
like Scania and Man, who are going for batteries powered trucks, because they believe it is the most
efficient option. On the other hand, we have Daimler Trucks (Mercedes) and Volvo, who argue that
fuel cells make more sense. In this paper, we look whether hydrogen fuel cells offer a better means of
electrification in the heavy-duty transport sector rather than batteries.

Hydrogen fuel cells versus lithium-ion batteries

Just like in a battery-powered electric vehicle, a fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) uses electricity to
power an electric motor. Where they differ is how the electricity is stored. In FCEV the electricity is
produced using a fuel cell powered by hydrogen, rather than getting the electricity from a battery. The
hydrogen is combined with oxygen from the air in a fuel cell, which generates electricity through a
chemical reaction. This electricity is then used to power the car's electric motors.
One area where hydrogen fuel cells could potentially have an impact is in the heavy-duty trucking
industry. Road freight is responsible for almost 30% (see figure 1 of the appendix) of the emissions
produced by the transport sector and overall, for around 7 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. The
use of hydrogen fuel cells could help to reduce these emissions while also providing several other
benefits. Unlike traditional fossil fuels like diesel, the chemical reaction in hydrogen fuel cells
produces only water vapor as a by-product. This makes them a much cleaner and more sustainable
source of energy. It could help to reduce air pollution and improve air quality, particularly in urban
areas where heavy-duty trucks are commonly used.
Another benefit of using hydrogen fuel cells in trucks is the increased energy efficiency compared to
batteries. Fuel cells can convert hydrogen into electricity with much higher efficiency than batteries
are able to store electricity, resulting in less wasted energy and longer driving ranges. For example,
Volvo claims having made a hydrogen fuel truck which has a range of over 1000 kilometres and that
with a refuelling time of less than 15 minutes. Both numbers are comparable with a conventional
diesel engine truck and are much better than what we can currently get from batteries. The current
Volvo FH electric truck only has a range of 300 kilometres and has a recharging time of over two and
Environmental and Transportation Economics Sebastien Tison & Ruben Vandenbussche

a half hours when using the correct charging mechanism. For longer distances, this could lead to
significant cost savings for trucking companies when compared to battery powered trucks, as they
would be able to operate their vehicles for longer periods of time without needing to stop for
refuelling. Also, the heavy battery needed to power a truck would add several tonnes to the total
weight of the truck. As the hydrogen powered truck does not need these batteries, they are much
lighter and can take on a higher payload then a battery powered truck, which is something a lot of
trucking companies will like so see as they often look to maximise their payload.
Another area where the fuel cell trucks are a better than the battery powered trucks is the use of
expensive raw materials. To make a modern battery capable of providing energy to an electric motor a
lot of scarce materials like lithium, nickel and cobalt are being used. These materials have been rising
in price a lot the last couple of years due to the rise in demand for lithium-ion batteries and are also
often mined in conflicted areas. It is prospected that the demand of these scarce raw materials will
keep a steep upward trend. (Figure 2) This effect could increase the price of the lithium-ion battery
typically found in battery-powered vehicles.
Hydrogen fuel cells do have some disadvantages. A lot of energy is needed to make hydrogen out of
water. Most of the hydrogen today is produced using natural gas. This process generates more
greenhouse gasses then the burning of diesel. However, there are already some alternatives. It is
already possible to make hydrogen using green energy from wind or the sun. At this moment, these
methods are less available due to higher costs, but it is believed that due to the rise in use of hydrogen
in other sectors (e.g. blast furnaces in the steel sector) that the price of green hydrogen will drop since
a lot of industries in the future will depend on hydrogen to reduce its emission of greenhouse gasses.
Some projections say prices will drop to 1,50 dollars even before 2030 as can be seen in figure 3 in the
appendix.
It is also known that the development of battery-powered vehicles is way further along than the
vehicles using hydrogen. Once it is possible to produce batteries that can store more energy per
kilogram and can charge in matter of minutes instead of hours, it seems redundant to keep on investing
in more expensive hydrogen solutions. However, according to scientists this will only be possible a bit
further in the future then needed to drastically reduce the emissions of greenhouse gasses.
When we take all these arguments into consideration, we can conclude that the NPV of the use of
hydrogen is positive, even though it is not efficient as of today. The NPV is equal to the total
discounted benefits, minus the discounted costs, plus the environmental value (EV). The problem
today as that the cost of producing hydrogen is still too high to compete with other fuels. However,
according to today’s trends and forecasts by the Hydrogen Council, we can see that this cost will drop
substantially in the upcoming years (Figure 4 and 5). This combined with extra cost reductions that
come with economies of scale and the fact that hydrogen eliminates carbon emissions, will make this a
worthwhile investment.

Conclusion
The urgent need for an alternative for the current fossil fuels gets more real every day. In the heavy-
duty transport sector there still is a debate which way to go. We think that both ways have pro and
cons depending on the use. For smaller distances (less than 250 per day) battery powered trucks are
already on the market and probably a better and cheaper option. Those trucks can charge at night and
are able to be used again the next day. The battery technology is still improving at a fast pace and it
might be possible in the future to overcome the short ranges and long charging times. In the meantime,
it seems that for longer distances and heavier loads that hydrogen might be a better and quicker way to
go, especially with the prospect of hydrogen prices going down combined with the fact that counties
promise to reduce carbon emission. We believe that for longer distances the use of hydrogen fuel cells
Environmental and Transportation Economics Sebastien Tison & Ruben Vandenbussche

will have a better longevity and therefore should be a focus point for investments by the European
commission.

Appendix
Figure 1: Global CO2 emissions from transport (by: Our World in Data)

Figure 2: forecasts for the demand of battery materials (by: Song Hu)
Environmental and Transportation Economics Sebastien Tison & Ruben Vandenbussche
Environmental and Transportation Economics Sebastien Tison & Ruben Vandenbussche

Figure 3: Projected production cost of green hydrogen (by: Harry Morgan)

Figure 4: Cost reductions in the Heavy Truck industry by 2030 (by: Hydrogen Council)
Environmental and Transportation Economics Sebastien Tison & Ruben Vandenbussche

Figure 5: Cost competitiveness (by: Hydrogen Council)

Environmental and Transportation Economics Sebastien Tison & Ruben Vandenbussche

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