German auto supplier Bosch will invest almost 2.5 billion euros ($2.8 billion) in hydrogen fuel cell technology from 2021 to 2026 and expects to generate roughly 5 billion in sales from it by 2030, the company said on Thursday (13th July 2023).
The planned investment is one billion euros more than what was allocated in its previous investment plan for 2021-2024, the statement said.
Vehicles with hydrogen fuel cells, in which hydrogen combines with oxygen to produce water and energy to power a battery, refuel in minutes and have a much longer range than battery-electric vehicles, but lack infrastructure and are less energy-efficient.
Bosch predicts that one in five new trucks weighing six metric tons or more will have fuel-cell powertrains by 2030.
"Bosch is growing with hydrogen," says chief executive Stefan Hartung.
Bosch said production of its fuel cell power module - a fuel cell system that generates electricity from hydrogen in vehicles, mainly used in commercial long-haul applications - has started at its Stuttgart-Feuerbach plant in Germany and in Chongqing, China.
Nikola Corporation will be the pilot customer for the modules manufactured in Stuttgart-Feuerbach with a Class 8 hydrogen fuel cell electric truck to enter the North American market in the third quarter of 2023.
Daimler Trucks plans to bring a hydrogen truck to market in the second half of the decade, forming a joint venture with Volvo to develop zero-emissions technology.
Automaker Stellantis said it will begin deliveries of its first mid-size vans powered by hydrogen fuel cells in Europe this year by the end of 2021.
By contrast, Volkswagen subsidiary Traton is focusing exclusively on battery-electric development.
