Scania tables fuel cells for now as BEV shows promise

Scania made headlines in January when it announced a new commitment to battery electric solutions while seemingly shunning hydrogen. Battery powertrains would be “the main tool” to achieving transport decarbonisation, the truckmaker said, and would gradually overtake the company’s fossil and biofuel solutions in most applications.

The general consensus seems to be that hydrogen fuel cell powertrains make sense for long-distance trucking in particular, but Scania believes battery electric solutions will be enough, at least over the next decade or so. It is one of very few truckmakers to put hydrogen on ice as it turns its attention to near-term battery-powered solutions.

The argument is that battery powertrains are readily available, scalable and less expensive than a fuel cell solution, although research has shown that total system costs for long-distance solutions are comparable. The truckmaker also has concerns around the generation of clean hydrogen, and the overall efficiency of converting renewable energy into truck fuel.

Scania has no bias here: it already…