Daimler expands its zero-tailpipe-emission truck line-up, and confirms commitment to battery electric and hydrogen fuel cell

Daimler Truck continues to increase its zero-tailpipe-emission product portfolio, with the launch of more electric vehicles at the IAA.

Speaking on its stand earlier this week, where just three out of 13 trucks were diesel-powered, Martin Daum, CEO of Daimler Truck, said: “A lot has happened since our last IAA. Back in 2018, we had just one zero-emission vehicle in series production, our FUSO eCanter light truck. This year we have a portfolio of eight different zero-emission vehicles in series production. We are quickly transforming our product portfolio to eDrive.”

Daum said the company is committed to a dual-strategy approach, and will focus on both battery electric and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. He ruled out a triple strategy, describing natural gas as an “expensive bridging technology that still relies on a fossil fuel and emits CO2”.

He stressed the importance of a comprehensive green energy infrastructure, for both electricity and hydrogen.

“The good news is that building two infrastructures, one for green electricity and one for green hydrogen, will be less expensive than building just one infrastructure,” he explained. “It may sound counterintuitive at first, but it is actually cheaper to scale two infrastructures to some medium level than to scale just one infrastructure to an extreme level.”

He urged stakeholders to work together on this challenge, and to treat it as an opportunity. “As we speak, a huge new market is coming into existence. And as we know from past experience, there is hardly anything more powerful than market forces once they are set into motion.”