HyTruck promotes hydrogen

SO LONG SMOKESTACK

ALTERNATIVE FUELS • ARE THE DAYS OF DIESEL NUMBERED? SOME BELIEVE SO AND ARE TAKING STEPS TOWARDS A DECARBONISED ROAD TRANSPORT SYSTEM, DESPITE THE ADDED COSTS

H ESSERS, THE Belgium-based logistics company, says it is “convinced that hydrogen is indispensable to reducing the carbon footprint of the transport sector”. But there is a problem: there are few hydrogenpowered vehicles on the road, so there is little investment in the fuelling network; as a result, transport operators do not find it an attractive alternative to carbon-heavy diesel as fuel for their vehicles and, similarly, truck manufacturers are not being very pro-active in developing and marketing hydrogen-ready vehicles.

The success of hydrogen as a road fuel depends on the availability of hydrogen trucks and their range, load capacity, refuelling speed and the current infrastructure. “That’s the problem,” says Yannick Dylst, sustainability project manager at H Essers. “The high production costs of green hydrogen and hydrogen technology limit demand from customers; and no demand means no investments. The result is a bit of a chicken and egg situation.”

However, with the focus very much on sustainability and with the transport sector challenged to meet the EU’s ‘Fit for 55’ targets, something has to be done. To help break that impasse, H Essers has, for the past two years, been a member of the HyTrucks consortium, which now involves more than 70 stakeholders from five European countries, representing different aspects of the hydrogen supply and demand chain. HyTrucks is aiming to have 1,000 hydrogen-powered trucks on Europe’s roads by 2025 and H Essers says it will be among the early adopters. NOT THE ONLY GAME IN TOWN It is not just H Essers that is paying attention. The Port of Antwerp-Bruges is also involved in the HyTrucks consortium and, along with Air Liquide and DATS24, which is already running hydrogen fuelling stations in the country, is planning to develop a network for the use and fuelling of hydrogen-powered trucks in and around the port of Antwerp, both for local and international transport.

“We want to give hydrogen every chance as an energy carrier, a basic element for chemistry and a fuel, and are therefore committing ourselves as an active pioneer in the hydrogen economy,” says Jacques Vandermeiren, CEO of the Port of AntwerpBruges. “As a world port and Europe’s largest integrated chemical cluster, we are an important link in this chain. Thanks to the collaboration between partners with the right expertise, we have all the assets we need to take further concrete steps in this regard and to set an example for other ports and regions.”

There are other projects, too. The H2Accelerate group, whose members include TotalEnergies, Linde and Daimler Trucks, are working on vehicle designs and a refuelling network in Europe. Daimler has recently begun trials of a truck fuelled by liquefied hydrogen, having already successfully done the same with one using hydrogen fuel cells.

All this effort points to a looming need for a new supply chain, to get liquefied hydrogen to filling stations. Hoyer has already come onboard, having looked at the likely future of the fuels sector and merging its fuel distribution and gas distribution divisions. It recently announced the availability of both compressed and refrigerated hydrogen for its existing fuel distribution network across Europe.

If the Fit for 55 targets are to be met, it seems that hydrogen offers one – perhaps not the only one – route to decarbonisation. It is unlikely that H Essers, Hoyer and the Port of Antwerp-Bruges will be the only players in the game. H2accelerate.eu www.essers.com www.hoyer-group.com

THERE ARE SOME BRAVE PIONEERS WILLING TO TAKE

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