In order to decarbonize road freight transport, UAE-based renewables developer Masdar and Germany’s Daimler Truck is examining the possible supply of green liquid hydrogen from Abu Dhabi to Europe by 2030. Daimler Truck plans to launch a truck powered by this fuel in 2027.
Daimler Truck and Masdar have set to create their partnership to explore opportunities for green liquid hydrogen from Abu Dhabi as expressed in a memorandum of understanding (MoU), seeking to contribute to the ongoing efforts to tackle carbon dioxide emissions in road freight transport, a joint statement said on Thursday. The auto vehicle manufacturer is known to be pursuing a dual strategy with hydrogen and battery-powered vehicles in its decarbonization plans.
Expansion timeline
According to Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi, the Masdar CEO, the agreement has the potential to enable a significant reduction of CO2 emissions in road freight transport in Europe and to support the United Arab Emirates’s ambition to become a leader in the low carbon hydrogen market by 2031 with Masdar playing a key role in this. The energy company is said to have already developed projects in more than 40 countries and with a total power generation capacity of more than 20 GW (gigawatts). Masdar aims to reach 100 GW by 2030.
Impact
Martin Daum, Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler Truck Holding AG, emphasizes that the company wants to play a pioneering role in sustainable transport. He adds that its absolutely crucial to make green energy available globally as a way to decarbonize commercial vehicles and the initiative with Masdar is a first step towards enabling the supply of green liquid hydrogen in Europe.
Masdar is actively investing and seeking partnerships in the field of green hydrogen production. Most recently, it signed a strategic framework agreement with Hy24 to collaborate on large-scale green hydrogen projects in key regional hubs across Europe, the Americas, Asia Pacific and the MENA region.
What’s unique
The Stuttgart-based truck manufacturer is planning to convert its entire range of trucks and buses in its core markets of Europe, the USA and Japan to CO2-neutral drives (in driving mode) by 2039. In addition to the battery-electric drive – as in the eActros series – Daimler Truck is also focusing on hydrogen mobility. For years, the company has been working on a hydrogen truck for long-distance transportation with the GenH2 Truck.
Only recently, after intensive testing on the test track and on public roads, Daimler Truck certified that its GenH2 Truck is “at an advanced stage of development”, meaning that it can be used for the first customer-oriented driver trials. The company describes this step as entry into the next development phase. As mentioned above, the model should be ready for series production in three years’ time.
The development goal of the production-ready GenH2 Truck is a range of up to 1,000 kilometres and more. This was already announced when the concept vehicle was unveiled in September 2020. The manufacturer demonstrated that this is a realistic goal with its #HydrogenRecordRun in September. As part of this, a GenH2 truck recently drove 1,047 kilometres within Germany on one tank of liquid hydrogen.
In October, the German company inked several renewable power offtake agreements with Statkraft AS, arranging for all of its production sites at home to be powered entirely by clean energy. In the same month, the company also entered into a partnership with EnBW to explore the possibility of supplying heat to a Mercedes-Benz plant in the City of Worth am Rhein from a new geothermal site
About Masdar
Masdar, also known as the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company, is an Emirati state-owned renewable energy company. It was founded and chaired by Sultan Al Jaber in 2006 as a subsidiary of Mubadala Investment Company. The company offers clean energy development and sustainable urban development.
About Daimler
One of the world’s leading car and truck manufacturers, its vehicle brands include Mercedes-Benz, Maybach (luxury automobiles), and Smart (micro hybrid cars). Daimler manufactures commercial vehicles under brands such as Freightliner, Sterling, Western Star, Setra, Thomas Built Buses, Orion, and Fuso.
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