Energy company TotalEnergies and global truck manufacturer Daimler Truck announced a new partnership, aimed at developing hydrogen ecosystems for heavy-duty trucks as part of a broader effort to decarbonize road freight in Europe.

Areas targeted for collaboration include hydrogen sourcing and logistics, dispensing of hydrogen in service stations, the development of hydrogen-based trucks, and the establishment of a customer base. In addition, the partners will explore the means of reducing the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) of hydrogen truck operations.

Hydrogen is viewed as one of the key building blocks of the transition to a cleaner energy future, given its ability to act both as a clean energy carrier and fuel, as well as a CO2-neutral feedstock for the production of green chemicals. Significant investments in production, infrastructure, and deployment will be necessary in order to foster broad use of hydrogen for use in areas such as industrial production and transport.

Karin Rådström, CEO of Mercedes-Benz Trucks and Member of the Board of Management at Daimler Truck, said:

 “We are fully committed to the Paris Climate Agreement and want to actively contribute to the decarbonization of road freight transport in the European Union. Regarding the long-haul freight segment, we are convinced that CO2-neutral transportation will be enabled in the future by hydrogen-powered fuel cell trucks as well as purely battery-powered trucks. For this, we want to establish a pan-European hydrogen ecosystem together with strong partners such as TotalEnergies. I am fully convinced that this collaboration will play a key role in our intensified activities on the road towards hydrogen-powered trucking.”

As part of the collaboration, Daimler Truck is to supply hydrogen-powered fuel-cell trucks to its customers in the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg, and France by 2025. TotalEnergies aims to operate up to 150 hydrogen refueling stations in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg, and France by 2030.

Alexis Vovk, President Marketing & Services at TotalEnergies and member of the Executive Committee, said:

“Hydrogen will have its role in TotalEnergies’ journey to decarbonize mobility, especially in European long-haul transportation. Our company is actively exploring all aspects of the value chain of Hydrogen for mobility, from production to supply and distribution, and is building important partnerships to this effect. We want to build a multi-energies company with the ambition to get to Net Zero by 2050, together with society. Therefore, the creation of a European network of H2 truck stations for mobility is one of the key challenges we intend to tackle. We are proud to partner with a motivated player like Daimler Truck to develop CO2-neutral truck mobility through a harmonized approach.