Hydrogen fuel cell trucks could compete with diesel engine vehicles on a total cost of ownership basis before 2030, the head of new power engineering at engine and generator producer Cummins told S&P Global Platts.
Falling costs of renewable hydrogen and fuel cell production were bringing down the total cost of ownership (TCO) of fuel cell electric trucks, Cummins Vice President for New Power Engineering, Jonathan Wood, said in an interview June 16.
“We think toward the end of this decade, we will be getting closer to TCO parity with a diesel engine,” Wood said.
“It does depend on region, it does depend on application, it does depend on electricity pricing … but that is the time frame we think we will be getting close on TCO on some heavy-duty applications where we can get to low-cost hydrogen production,” he said.
Wood said the future of heavy-duty land transport would be hydrogen fuel cell or battery electric, as economies sought to meet zero-emission targets. The timing of the transition was uncertain, he said, but noted that diesel would not form a part of the future energy mix in this segment.
The full report from S&P Global Platts is available here.