The hydrogen combustion engine for CO2 neutral goods transport

There is a huge push towards mandatory global CO2 reduction and this topic is vital for heavy-duty commercial vehicles. The target of the commercial vehicle industry is to develop solutions that are technically feasible within the given timeframe. The hydrogen engine offers, in comparison to a fuel cell, strong advantages in view of maintaining of the value creation chain and protection of powertrain related investments in production facilities. The hydrogen engine concepts that have been published in the recent history show some weaknesses in view of performance, dynamic and fuel consumption which are neither so competitive against diesel/gas engines, nor against fuel cell powertrains. In this paper, the necessary steps will be shown to resolve these weaknesses and to establish the hydrogen internal combustion engine as a short-term available CO2-neutral technology for heavy-duty vehicles and to illustrate the potential of this powertrain concept. © 2023 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.