The Battle for the Future of UK Trucking: Hydrogen vs Electric

[@MarkGaudie]

I’m struggling to influence the company I work for to go electric with our fleet of HGV’s. I’ve been heavily invested into electrified transport for over 11 years now. I would love to get involved in this space to help companies with the transition to a more sustainable haulage industry. I have over 16 years experience as a truck driver and I’ve been pushing our company to think of the future in how we could transition from our LNG and CNG fleet into a fully electrified fleet. We have the perfect use case for electrified transport to help encourage other companies make the switch. I’ve been running a large EV community in the North West of England since 2017 and I’m so passionate about the future of a electrified transport system. I fully understand the pros and cons that the industry has to face, from the charging infrastructure that needs to be implemented to the efficiency the drivers could get out of their vehicles with some extensive driver training on driver style. I currently train all our new recruits at the company I work for now. I just need to find a way to be part of this amazing transport system the UK could showcase to the world.

[@chargeheadsuk]

@@MarkGaudie worth a chat, I now work for Dynamon an EV transition Software company. We are heavily involved in the eFreight project, part of ZEHID. Drop me a message on LinkedIn (Tim Aylen) and we can habe a chat.

[@JamesBrown-wz2zd]

That first truck looks like a super car!

[@chargeheadsuk]

@@JamesBrown-wz2zd smart eh 😉

[@peterswinson326]

The fact that hydrogen has been around for over 10 years should be a sign that it's not going to take off in a big way, the stats and environmental arguments just don't stack up, there may be temporary use cases but these avenues for use are decreasing every day as battery technology and EV truck investments increase

[@chargeheadsuk]

Very good point. The infrastructure is a massive factor in that. 💯

[@xrotaryguy]

@@chargeheadsuk No it isn't. The efficiency of making H2 and the efficiency of the fuel cells means that refueling with H2 is 4X more expensive than diesel or gasoline. There's been no significant advancement in 25 years. H2 has yet to have its Li ion revolution like EVs experienced after 1997 with the AC Propulsion T-Zero.

[@commuterbranchline8132]

Electric trucks should work well on established trunk routes between DC’s and ports or manufacturers where infrastructure can be placed. Hydrogen is good for big heavy things like plant, trains. and ships. The difficulty with commercial hydrogen is that, 1, it’s derived from petrochemicals and is more expensive to even produce that just applying a unit of electricity to a motor. 2, there is zero hydrogen infrastructure anywhere in the U.K. or Europe. 3, storing hydrogen is very dangerous. Good luck to hydrogen loving folks.

[@chargeheadsuk]

Thanks for your comment 👍

[@xrotaryguy]

Cost per mile with H2 is 4X more than with diesel or gasoline (depending where you are in the world and your local petroleum prices). This is due to the 60%-ish efficiency of H2 manufacture combined with the 60%-ish efficiency of PEM fuel cells. It's been this way for 25 years with no significant advancement. We keep hoping H2 will be like petroleum for shipping but it never will.

[@chargeheadsuk]

Some people still think Hydrogen is the answer and silver bullet 🙈

[@ThompsonUK2]

Electric HGV's will put many high paid jobs at risk, i.e your fuel tankers. One of the best paid they'll dwindle down to £15p/h and get shite pay for 60 hours a week.

[@chargeheadsuk]

New technology will create different jobs no doubt. Thanks for your comment.