Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Hydrogen technology is unlikely to play a major role in sustainable road transport

Nature Electronics volume 5, pages 8–10 (2022)Cite this article

Subjects

Technical and economic developments in battery and fast-charging technologies could soon make fuel cell electric vehicles, which run on hydrogen, superfluous in road transport.

Road transport remains dominated by fossil fuels. Transport is responsible for about one-quarter of all energy-related greenhouse gas emissions and about 72% of this is due to road transport1. However, the emissions budgets implied by the Paris Agreement mean that transport should be climate neutral — that is, it should have net zero greenhouse gas emissions — within just a few decades2,3,4. Urgent action is thus needed, and stock turnover in road transport is slow2.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Freight segments and potential applications for zero emission trucks.
Fig. 2: Proposed megawatt charging station locations for trucks in Europe.

References

  1. Energy Consumption in Road Transport in Selected IEA Countries, 2000-2018 (IEA, 7 December 2020); https://go.nature.com/3e9QWFl

  2. Axsen, J., Plötz, P. & Wolinetz, M. Nat. Clim. Change 10, 809–818 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Creutzig, F. et al. Science 350, 911–912 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Plötz, P. et al. Net-Zero-Carbon Transport in Europe Until 2050: Targets, Technologies and Policies for a Long-Term EU Strategy (Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI, 2021); https://go.nature.com/3e7K4ID

  5. Mattioli, G., Roberts, C., Steinberger, J. K. & Brown, A. Energy Res. Social Sci. 66, 101486 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Kluschke, P., Gnann, T., Plötz, P. & Wietschel, M. Energy Rep. 5, 1010–1024 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Global EV Outlook (IEA, 2021); https://go.nature.com/32mcc7X

  8. Alternative fuel station map: Complete overview of fuel stations in your country (European Alternative Fuels Observatory); www.eafo.eu

  9. Link, S., Plötz, P., Moll, C. & Griener, J. Heutige Machbarkeit Emissions freier Lieferverkehr—Fallbeispiel Rewe Nordost (Fraunhofer-Institut für System- und Innovationsforschung ISI, 2021); https://go.nature.com/30I30KL

  10. Fuel Cell and Coalition Statement On the Deployment of Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Heavy-Duty trucks in Europe (Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking, 2020); https://go.nature.com/3yJcfqy

  11. Plötz, P. & Speth, D. Truck Stop Locations in Europe: Final Report (Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI, 2021); https://go.nature.com/3mhpUAs

  12. European Commission. Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the Deployment of Alternative Fuels Infrastructure, and Repealing Directive 2014/94/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council (2021); https://go.nature.com/3pdJzmB

  13. Sauter, V., Speth, D., Plötz, P. & Signer, T. A Charging Infrastructure Network for Battery Electric Trucks in Europe Working Paper Sustainability and Innovation, S 02/2021 (Fraunhofer ISI, 2021); https://go.nature.com/3smvDZh

  14. Plötz, P., Gnann, T., Jochem, P., Yilmaz, H. & Kaschub, T. Energy Policy 130, 32–40 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Melton, N., Axsen, J. & Sperling, D. Nat. Energy 1, 16013 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Sperling, D. Two Billion Cars: Driving Towards Sustainability (Oxford Univ. Press, 2009).

  17. Comparison of Hydrogen and Battery Electric Trucks: Methodology and Underlying Assumptions (Transport and Environment, 2020); https://go.nature.com/3yKzqAV

  18. Mao, S., Basma, H., Ragon, P.-L., Zhou, Y. & Rodríguez, F. Total Cost of Ownership for Heavy Trucks in China: Battery-Electric, Fuel Cell Electric, and Diesel Trucks ICCT White Paper (ICCT, 2021); https://go.nature.com/33LNYoA

  19. Chad, H. et al. Spatial and Temporal Analysis of the Total Cost of Ownership for Class 8 Tractors and Class 4 Parcel Delivery Trucks Technical Report NREL/TP-5400-71796 (National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 2021); https://go.nature.com/3yHp3Ot

  20. Liimatainen, H., van Vliet, O. & Aplyn, D. Appl. Energy 236, 804–814 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This research was prepared as part of the projects eWayBW (grant number 16EM3167-1) and BOLD (grant number 16EM4011-1), funded by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety. I further acknowledge funding by the European Union’s HORIZON 2020 projects PARIS REINFORCE (grant number 820846) and STORM (grant number 101006700). Discussions with D. Speth and M. Wietschel, among others, are gratefully acknowledged.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI, Karlsruhe, Germany

    Patrick Plötz

Authors
  1. Patrick Plötz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Patrick Plötz.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The author declares no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Plötz, P. Hydrogen technology is unlikely to play a major role in sustainable road transport. Nat Electron 5, 8–10 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-021-00706-6

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-021-00706-6

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing