A new limited series of hydrogen combustion-powered trucks has been created by MAN Truck & Bus. There are two hundred buses in total and they will be available, by 2025, to customers in Iceland, Norway, the Netherlands, plus a number of other selected non-European countries.

The new truck is called the MAN hTGX and it has been designed to be suitable for the transportation of heavy goods. This could include construction work, tank transport or similar contents. The truck has been fitted with a 56kg tank that is able to be filled in fifteen minutes and the fuel it requires is hydrogen that has been compressed to 700 bar. The truck has shown an impressive energy output of 383kW and it is able to travel up to 600km in both the 6x2 and 6x4 axle variants.

The hydrogen combustion engine H45 that MAN manufactured for this innovative truck, was based on the traditional D38 diesel engine and it was created at MAN’s energy and battery plant which is based in Germany, in Nuremberg.

Executive Board Member of MAN Truck & Bus, Friedrich Baumann, spoke about the ‘familiar and proven technology enables MAN to “enter the market at an early stage and thus provide a decisive impetus for the ramp-up of the hydrogen infrastructure.”

Baumann also mentioned, “Trucks powered by hydrogen combustion engines are a useful addition for special applications and markets. For special applications, hydrogen combustion or, in the future, fuel cell technology is a suitable supplement.”

Executive Board Member for R&D at MAN, Dr Frederik Zohm, commented, “The new CO2 regulations at EU level will classify trucks with hydrogen combustion engines as zero-emission vehicles. At the same time, depending on the country, our customers benefit from corresponding toll reductions, for example.” Zohm continued, “Hydrogen fuel technology is also in preparation at MAN. However, it will be several years before the technology is really ready for the market and competitive.”