Daimler Trucks Plans to Shift Directly to Hydrogen and Electric Vehicles from Diesel

Due to the consistent increase in fuel prices and high CO2 levels of fuels, Daimler Trucks, the world’s leading truck maker, has decided to minimize the production of the CNG truck segment and directly shift to hydrogen and electric vehicles for Indian customers.

Daimler plans to induct electric solutions in the small truck segment to meet intra-city requirements. In contrast, hydrogen solutions will support heavy-duty and haulage trucks.

As per the media reports, the senior management, including the chairman of the board of management, Martin Daum, is also in India to celebrate the 10th anniversary of its local subsidiary company, Daimler India Commercial Vehicles.

At this event, Daum said that they know diesel has ten years of life, if not 15. Therefore they will keep manufacturing diesel trucks for the Indian market. However, they are also working on electric solutions and hydrogen technology.

Like its competitors, including industry leaders Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland, Daimler Trucks is not taking a risk on the CNG segment. Whereas Tata Motors has recently launched its five new trucks powered by CNG, and Ashok Leyland has already announced to launch CNG and LNG-powered trucks and tractors by the end of the year.

Daum said they believe CNG is not as green as it needs to be. Natural gasses produce as much CO2 as diesel. He also mentioned that he didn’t understand how natural gasses could be green. However, now they will focus on diesel, fuel cell, and battery electric.

In recent times it has been seen that the demand for trucks has moved in favor of CNG-powered trucks as these trucks are cheaper than the diesel segment. However, the increase in the prices of CNG gas is again shifting demand towards commercial diesel vehicles.

Considering the same, Daimler can focus on the small truck segment of up to 3.5 tonnes to manufacture under the EV segment because it is expected that these small trucks are ideal for intra-city usage and have a higher adoption rate than other commercial vehicle segments.

The company plans to provide hydrogen fuel options in its heavy-duty truck to meet the long-haulage work and heavy-duty operations. This fuel is considered green energy and has zero tailpipe emissions. Many large enterprises, including Adani Group and Reliance Industries, have already announced the start of hydrogen production. Hydrogen fuel provides greater drive range and fast refueling; it also ensures the high uptime of heavy-duty trucks compared to electric variants.

Since DICV entered the Indian market, the company has sold over 1,40,000 trucks and buses and exported over 60,000 trucks to 60 countries. Last year this leading truck maker had a 7% market share with a total sales of 14,200 units. Daimler only manufactures trucks and buses under the medium and heavy-duty segment.

Daum said that the growth of sophisticated trucks was not as fast as expected; the market growth is still behind the previous estimate. He also mentioned that their company could sell more trucks and buses if there was no semiconductor chip shortage.

Daimler’s official notification said that the company is ready to launch its ten new BharatBenz trucks with different GVW, including a 38-tonne truck, which will be the first truck in India under the 38-tonne segment.