Heavy-Duty Trucking: Are Hydrogen-Powered Engines the Future?

It’s not difficult to find heavy-duty trucks on the road. You might see them thundering down the highway on your way to work. However, there is an ongoing conversation about the best way to fuel those trucks.

The best big truck parts are readily available through various websites, but there’s much more contention about what will power heavy-duty trucks in the immediate future. Could hydrogen-powered engines be an attractive candidate?

Some people think so. It’s worth discussing, so let’s do that right now.

What Exactly is Hydrogen?

First, let’s make sure you understand what we mean when we talk about hydrogen as a possible heavy-duty truck fuel source. Hydrogen is a clean methane alternative. It is also the most abundant chemical.

Hydrogen is the lightest molecule, and if it’s in standard conditions, it is a gas composed of diatomic molecules. When it is in that form, it goes by the formula H2. This is also sometimes referred to as hydrogen gas.

How Might Hydrogen Power Heavy-Duty Trucks?

If you have a vehicle with fuel cells, they are powered by a compressed version of hydrogen gas. It can be fed into an onboard fuel cell stack. This stack does not need to burn the gas as fuel. Instead, it transforms the chemical energy to be found in the fuel, transforming it into electric energy.

This is already a similar method to how many electric cars are powered. The electricity powers the vehicle’s electric motor, serving as a clean alternative to gasoline.

If this process is the same for cars, it stands to reason it could do the same thing for heavy-duty trucks large enough to haul enormous, heavy loads of cargo. These are the same kinds of trucks you see on the roads today, bringing freight from coast to coast.

How Far Away Are We From This Exciting Technology?

The trucking division of Volvo is currently testing this kind of technology. Large trucks equipped with fuel cells will probably not be on the road within the next couple of years. However, within the next decade, there are hopes that we should be seeing them.

Obviously, if this is technology that can be implemented successfully, it is a huge deal for the trucking industry. If trucks can get away from their dependence on fossil fuels and start using hydrogen, it means far less pollution.

Presumably, trucking companies will not cost as much to operate, either. If gas is no longer necessary, the companies should be more profitable.

These changes in profit margins should pass down to drivers as well. If a truck driver’s base pay went up, this industry could seem attractive to younger individuals who are entering a competitive job market.

Internal combustion engines fueled by hydrogen which are large and powerful enough to move 18-wheeler trucks are probably not very far away from being a reality. At the moment, the kinks need to be worked out, but don’t be surprised to see these vehicles on the road before too long.