Battery instead of fuel cell: Traton feels validated by ISI study

The independent Volkswagen truck division Traton Group SE sees its strategy of relying on battery-electric drives for trucks confirmed by the latest study from the Fraunhofer ISI Institute on the potential of fuel cell drives. In the scientific article by the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI) titled "Hydrogen unlikely to play major role in road transport, even for heavy trucks," published in the magazine "Nature Electronics," the authors conclude that battery-electric drives are superior to fuel cells in most regions and applications of commercial vehicles, explicitly including long-haul heavy transport.

"We are pleased with the clarity of the analysis result, even though it doesn't surprise us. It once again confirms the Traton Group's strategy to rely on battery-electric drives for our commercial vehicles," comments Catharina Modahl-Nilsson, Chief Technical Officer at the group.

In truck transport, especially on long-haul routes, pure electric trucks would in most cases be the cheaper and more environmentally friendly solution, according to the Munich-based holding company with the brands MAN, Scania, VW Caminhões, and Navistar, as well as Rio. This is due to the decisive disadvantage of hydrogen trucks, where only about a quarter of the original energy flows into propulsion, with three-quarters lost through conversion losses. For electric trucks, the ratio is reversed. This is also in line with Volkswagen Group CEO Herbert Diess's strategy for passenger cars.

Precious Commodity: Green Hydrogen Remains in Short Supply

Additionally, the expected amount of green hydrogen, even with large-scale imports, would be limited and should therefore be available to energy-intensive industries, as the current Fraunhofer analysis also summarizes.

"The demand of European industry alone, such as steel mills, massively exceeds the entire currently planned production capacity for green hydrogen in the EU by 2030," warns the Munich group.

According to the group, the energy cost advantage of battery-electric trucks is the key to a quick transition to e-trucks, since fuel or energy costs constitute the largest share of the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) for heavily used commercial vehicles. These costs exceed the acquisition costs many times over. The better the vehicles are utilized, the more intensively, longer, and regularly they are used, the greater the energy cost advantage of e-trucks becomes, argue Traton's engineers. They assume that by 2025, a typical heavy e-truck in Europe could have lower total costs than a conventional diesel truck.

Important Condition: Comprehensive Fast-Charging Infrastructure

However, a comprehensive fast-charging infrastructure is a prerequisite, designed in Europe for a 45-minute break after four and a half hours of driving.

"Battery-electric long-haul trucks are coming, the technology is here, and the networks are supporting it. What is needed now is political support to quickly and massively reduce CO2 with this technology. Therefore, the establishment of a high-performance charging network for e-trucks must be forced in a timely manner with government support," demands Modahl-Nilsson clearly.

Further support possibilities for a quick transition, Modahl-Nilsson continues, lie in incentives for operators of battery-electric trucks. Exemptions from the Sunday driving ban or the facilitation of night logistics are conceivable. For the Traton Group, the high economic efficiency of e-trucks on long-haul routes is the most important lever for an emission-free future.

"We expect that by 2030, 50 percent of our new sales in long-haul transport could already be battery-electric, provided the charging infrastructure is in place. It shouldn't fail due to the resilience of the power grids – our trucks charge mainly at midday and at night, when demand and prices are particularly low," believes Andreas Kammel, responsible for the strategy on alternative drives and autonomous driving at SE.