Daimler disagreed with Tesla and VW’s view on batteries being the best way to transition to a more sustainable future. Bloomberg reported that the Daimler Truck’s chief executive officer, Martin Daum, expects hydrogen-powered semi-trucks to play a crucial role in reducing emissions from the transportation sector.
He pointed out that if companies focus only on battery-electric vehicles, this would be risky and cited the scarcity of raw materials along with grid challenges as to why.
“We cannot afford to bank on just one technology to reach the climate goals,” he told Bloomberg in a phone interview. “The focus until 2025 will be 100% on battery-electric vehicles. Between 2025 and 2035, we’re going to need both battery-electric and fuel cell vehicles because the massively growing infrastructure requirements require a two-legged approach.”
Just recently, VW’s CEO, Herbert Diess took a stance against hydrogen, Teslarati reported. The hydrogen car is proven NOT to be the solution. Electrification has established itself in traffic. Sham debates are a waste of time. Please listen to the science!” Diess said. Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk fully agreed with Diess and shared his thoughts in the tweet below.
Diess is right. Hydrogen is a staggeringly dumb form of energy storage for cars. Barely worth considering it for a rocket upper stage, which is its most compelling use.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 20, 2021
Daum shared profitability targets and objectives that would help Daimler generate the needed funds to navigate the automotive industry’s transformation to cleaner vehicles. “We want to be a resilient company that can avoid losses even in difficult years,” he said.
Bloomberg noted that the unit plans to list at the Frankfurt stock exchange later this year. It could enter the country’s blue-chip DAX Index. Daimler isn’t alone in its support of hydrogen fuel cells.
BMW is planning to unveil a limited series of hydrogen fuel cell model SUVs sometime in 2022. The company has been researching zero-emission alternatives to battery electric vehicles. Oliver Zipse, BMW’s CEO said that the company is planning a small production run of a hydrogen fuel-cell powered x5 SUV next year.