Mundus Nordic Green News – 9 November, 2020

Volvo AB sees long term fuel cell solution for heavy transport

Volvo AB has set its sights for society’s rapid electrification in the coming future, estimating that within 20 years, the company can expect that almost all vehicles will be powered electrically, either by batteries or from hydrogen-powered fuel cells. “For the long-distance transports, the fuel cells will be what counts. We expect large volumes of fuel cells in trucks, construction machinery, buses, and at Volvo Penta with marine and industrial uses,” explained Lars Stenqvist, technical manager for AB Volvo, to Svenska Dagbladet. And Volvo is far from alone in investing in hydrogen and fuel cells. In September, Martin Daum, Head of Daimler Trucks, showed off a hydrogen-powered truck that can go over 1000 km on a single ‘fuel tank’. At Volvo, however, Stenqvist made it clear that technical development remains before the fuel cells can be used in their trucks, even if they are already used in a very small number of passenger cars. “What is available today is adapted for passenger cars. But we have completely different requirements for high power outlets and service life,” said Stenqvist.

Scania which is headquartered in Södertälje, is another manufacturer conducting tests of fuel cells, alongside Gothenburg based Renova, which is in the process of testing a garbage truck that runs on hydrogen. Much remains to be accompished before large-scale fuel cell-powered trucks can become a reality, but Svante Axelsson, the Government's coordinator for a Fossil-Free Sweden, remained positively inclined that most of the pieces of the puzzle had begun to fall into place. “The game plan changed completely when the two largest truck manufacturers, Volvo and Daimler, decided to go in the direction of hydrogen. In addition, there are signals that the EU wants to push towards the hydrogen society,” Axelsson highlighted.