Daimler Truck AG and Keyou GmbH have signed an agreement for the joint development of a truck with a hydrogen combustion engine. Daimler Truck will supply vehicles of the Mercedes-Benz Actros L 1848 type as a tractor unit and engines manufactured in Mannheim based on the existing 12.8-litre platform to Keyou. The Munich company is responsible for the technological adaptation to hydrogen operation. External service providers will handle the technical conversion of the trucks and the integration of the engine.
Range up to 650 kilometres, market launch end of 2027
The first vehicle from the cooperation is to be the Keyou HICE.40 tractor unit. It is designed for a total vehicle weight of 40 tonnes. According to Keyou, it should achieve a range of up to 650 kilometres thanks to 350-bar compressed hydrogen technology. The company states the power as up to 350 kW. A port-fuel-injection system (PFI) is used. According to the partners, the market launch is planned for the end of 2027. In the long term, the technology can also be transferred to other vehicle series.
Partnership instead of in-house development
Daimler Truck has been investigating hydrogen combustion for several years in pre-development but relies on a cooperation model for market introduction. Keyou specialises in converting existing engine platforms to hydrogen. "Road freight transport needs different drive solutions for different application profiles. Hydrogen can be used both in the fuel cell and in the combustion engine. With Keyou, we are working with a specialised partner to bring hydrogen combustion technology to market quickly and efficiently," says Andreas Gorbach, member of the board of Daimler Truck and responsible for Truck Technology.
Thomas Korn, CEO and co-founder of Keyou GmbH, adds: "The collaboration with Daimler Truck is an important step for us to transfer our Keyou-inside technology into industrial application. Together, we can significantly accelerate the development and scaling of hydrogen-based drive solutions in the commercial vehicle sector and thus make a concrete contribution to the decarbonisation of heavy-duty transport."
After batteries and fuel cells, now also H2 engine
According to Daimler Truck, the hydrogen combustion engine complements the existing dual strategy of battery-electric drives and fuel cell trucks. The combustion engine is characterised by lower system complexity compared to the fuel cell and a low need for adaptation to existing vehicle architectures. Both companies also plan to cooperate in customer support. Keyou and Daimler Truck are planning discussions on how existing service and maintenance structures could be used for hydrogen trucks in the future.
