Which will be the engine of the future?

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Published 2023-10-27
Truck manufacturers are under immense pressure to cut emissions. But should they bet on fully electric batteries, hydrogen fuel cells or even both? Multinationals are reaching different conclusions. And the wrong choice could be expensive.

#planeta #hydrogen #ev

Credits:
Reporter: Beatrice Christofaro
Video Editor: Neven Hillebrands
Supervising Editor: Michael Trobridge, Malte Rohwer-Kahlmann
Factcheck: Alexander Paquet
Thumbnail: Em Chabridon

Read more:
Trends in electric heavy-duty vehicles:
www.iea.org/reports/global-ev-outlook-2023/trends-…

Decarbonising Europe’s Trucks How to Minimise Cost Uncertainty:
www.itf-oecd.org/sites/default/files/docs/decarbon…

A comparison of the life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions of European heavy-duty vehicles and fuels: theicct.org/publication/lca-ghg-emissions-hdv-fuel…

Truck CO2: Europe’s chance to lead:
www.transportenvironment.org/discover/truck-co2-eu…


Chapters:
00:00 Intro
01:04 Hydrogen starts ahead
02:51 Batteries overtake
05:51 Is the race won?
08:12 Challenges
10:15 Conclusion

All Comments (21)
  • We've already had a clean, faster and electric form of transportation than can haul 100 times the tonnage of what a truck can do for over a century. They are called trains. The easiest way to cut down truck emissions is to invest in more freight rail infrastructure to get more trucks off the road.
  • @dikshantprem252
    In India, government working on hydrogen, hybrid and bio diesel technology. while currently they made a whole electric freight rail networks system called Dedicated Front Corrider, which connects all major cities, industrial areas and only freight rails can run on this tracks. And these tracks are now open by current government. Which are cheap mode of transport and eco friendly.
  • @Charvak-Atheist
    4:21 You can produce Green Hydrogen at the fueling station itself, no need to transport Hydrogen. You only need, Electricity, Water and an Electrolizer to produce Hydrogen. That can be don at fueling station itself.
  • @Sumanth767
    Best way is to invest in freight rail so that each city/town is already reachable through that and complement that with electric trucks which has operation range of less than 300 km.
  • For heavy loads on middle and distances we already have trains. The rail infrastructure here in Germany is far behind the Netherlands or Switzerland but I think it's still the best option to invest in it if we wanna meet our climate goals. For the remaining trips and to reach places without rail connections, Electric trucks are the most efficient option so far.
  • @michaelh4804
    Best Option is to get as much Cargo on the rails as possible.(Like it used to be) Then use electric for the last few miles. Hydrogen is too expensive and valuable to waste it that inefficiently. It takes a ton of energy to compress and cool hydrogen.
  • Well done for producing a balanced and factual comparison, that's a rare thing for this topic! Hydrogen has so many disadvantages and so few advantages that its application will be niche at best - and, realistically, will struggle to compete against the flood of second hand diesel trucks on the market when so many routes will be served by battery-electric due to the low running costs. Battery supply is a major bottleneck (e.g. it delayed the Tesla Semi launch for years) but hopefully that will get solved soon.
  • When it comes to trucks, ... you Just can't beat a good Strong Diesel. It makes good economic sense !!
  • @evilpanky
    Realistically, electric. If we get grid energy too cheap to meter, hydrogen all the way.
  • @white_shadow_123
    Once again, trains solve all our problems and small electric trucks could drive small distance from train station to final destination, but people don't want trains. They would rather build train infrastructure above highways, than to use already superior trains...
  • @chuckygobyebye
    I always thought that the trouble with electric trucks was that the batteries are heavy so they eat into the weight that the truck is permitted to carry on the roads.
  • Competition is a great motivator, and I think companies should focus on developing both. In the end, you have redundancy so we won't repeat a reliance on a single source as we have been with oil.
  • @zerotwo_.002
    Trucks, are fine for small scale delivery and for remote areas. But everywhere else we should switch exclusively to TRAINS.
  • @samuxan
    Weight is not just about just the payload but the whole vehicle. Think weight restriction on certain bridges or roads. There H2 has a huge adavantage but at the end of the day I think there's a place for both technologies
  • @tonimika7900
    Mining trucks are still debating battery vs hydrogen fuel cell with Caterpillar taking an early lead with a bet in battery, but the unique conditions of mines - extremely heavy loads and relatively short distances - changes the decision-making process. The cost of hydrogen will be a big factor for the mining industry here as well.
  • @kyudo58
    Congratulations. Very well made video. Mostly this comparison is not made in such a balanced and well informed way.
  • @chimingyin9904
    from 7:46,it is a typical scenario in China that some cities are using EV trucks. These trucks are modified from traditional truck and they use some space between head and compartment. They can be deployed in short range haul missions and easy to replace battery.
  • @jeanfalconer6377
    What about huge freight train networks? Edited for clarification: I meant freight trains as part of a sustainable transport network.
  • The biggest problem with charging from the grid is the fact your relying on instant supply of power. You turn on a light bulb and a power station has to instantly produce additional power to handle that. Fine for a light bulb but scaled to a +350kwh charger for a truck and then multiply it to multiple trucking companies and thats a hell of a lot of power. You imagine the infrastructure you'd need to scale up and down to handle the load changes. Hydrogens biggest benerfit is it can be produced when the powers available and stored. Such that you can rely on solar and wind which supplies predictable but intermittent power to produce the hydrogen. The hydrogen then can be converted at will back into power to run the truck ect. The efficiency loss through conversion is worth it when you consider the hydrogen is energy storage. Hydrogen has the place for heavy duty and long range applications. Though BEV has the best case for light vehicle, commute applications. Something that doesnt need to be fast charged to give you a reasonable charge time.
  • @rodanegordon1619
    The more solutions we have the better it will be. I support diversification over total electrification.