Daimler Truck Invests in KEYOU for Hydrogen Technology

Lein­­fel­­den-Echter­­din­­gen/­­Mu­­nich – Daim­ler Truck AG and KEYOU GmbH are part­ne­ring to offer trucks equip­ped with hydro­gen inter­nal combus­tion engi­nes. The goal of the colla­bo­ra­tion is to provide a tech­no­logy that is available in the short term, cost-effec­­tive, and robust, and that effec­tively comple­ments exis­ting decar­bo­ni­zed power­trains. Exis­ting vehicle and engine vari­ants from Daim­ler Truck will serve as the tech­ni­cal foun­da­tion for rapid imple­men­ta­tion and market launch. KEYOU will be respon­si­ble for the hydro­gen retro­fit, with service provi­ders from the Munich-based company adap­ting the vehicle and engine. A market launch is still plan­ned for 2027. The parties have now signed a corre­spon­ding agreement. 

“Road freight trans­port requi­res diffe­rent propul­sion solu­ti­ons for diffe­rent opera­ting profiles. Hydro­gen can be used in both fuel cells and inter­nal combus­tion engi­nes. With KEYOU, we are colla­bo­ra­ting with a specia­li­zed part­ner to bring hydro­­­gen-powered inter­nal combus­tion engine tech­no­logy to market quickly and effi­ci­ently,” says Andreas Gorbach, Member of the Board of Manage­ment at Daim­ler Truck, respon­si­ble for Truck Technology.

Thomas Korn, CEO and co-foun­­der of KEYOU GmbH: “The colla­bo­ra­tion with Daim­ler Truck is an important step for us in brin­ging our KEYOU-inside tech­no­logy to indus­trial appli­ca­tion. Toge­ther, we can signi­fi­cantly acce­le­rate the deve­lo­p­ment and scaling of hydro­­­gen-based propul­sion solu­ti­ons in the commer­cial vehicle sector, ther­eby making a concrete contri­bu­tion to the decar­bo­niza­tion of heavy-duty transportation.”

Effi­ci­ency: Part­ner­ship Instead of In-House Development

Daim­ler Truck has exten­sive exper­tise in the deve­lo­p­ment of inter­nal combus­tion engi­nes and has been rese­ar­ching hydro­gen combus­tion for seve­ral years as part of its early-stage deve­lo­p­ment efforts. For the market launch, the company is deli­bera­tely rely­ing on a colla­bo­ra­tive model. 

KEYOU specia­li­zes in conver­ting exis­ting engine plat­forms to hydro­gen and takes an approach based on proven produc­tion vehic­les. This divi­sion of labor allows Daim­ler Truck to opti­mize deve­lo­p­ment efforts while enab­ling rapid time-to-market. 

In addi­tion to vehicle deve­lo­p­ment, KEYOU also places a strong empha­sis on long-term custo­mer support as a key aspect of the part­ner­ship. As a next step, KEYOU and Daim­ler Truck plan to hold discus­sions on how exis­ting service and main­ten­ance struc­tures could be utili­zed in the future to offer fleet opera­tors a high level of opera­tio­nal relia­bi­lity and availability. 

Through this colla­bo­ra­tion, both compa­nies are laying the ground­work for a long-term indus­trial part­ner­ship in the field of hydro­­­gen-based commer­cial vehicle power­trains. The colla­bo­ra­tion deli­bera­tely goes beyond a mere tech­no­lo­gi­cal partnership. 

Here’s How the Coope­ra­tion Model Is Implemented

The first vehicle will be the KEYOU HICE.40 trac­­tor-trai­­ler, which is sche­du­led to be laun­ched in 2027. — Under the agree­ment, Daim­ler Truck plans to sell Merce­­des-Benz Actros L 1848 trac­tor trucks and engi­nes manu­fac­tu­red in Mannheim—based on the exis­ting 12.8‑liter engine platform—to KEYOU. The Munich-based company KEYOU is respon­si­ble for the tech­no­lo­gi­cal adapt­a­tion to a hydro­­­gen-powered inter­nal combus­tion engine. The tech­ni­cal conver­sion of the trucks and the inte­gra­tion of the KEYOU-inside engine will be carried out by quali­fied exter­nal service providers. 

The resul­ting KEYOU HICE.40 trac­­tor-trai­­ler is desi­gned for opera­tion with a gross vehicle weight of 40 metric tons and, accor­ding to the manu­fac­tu­rer, is expec­ted to achieve a range of up to 650 kilo­me­ters thanks to its 350-bar pres­su­ri­zed hydro­gen tech­no­logy. With an output of up to 350 kW and a Port Fuel Injec­tion (PFI) system, it is inten­ded to offer a proven and powerful solu­tion for deman­ding freight trans­port. In the future, the tech­no­logy can also be applied to other vehicle series. 

KEYOU then offers the vehic­les to customers—and, in the future, also in combi­na­tion with the emer­ging hydro­gen refue­ling station infra­struc­ture, which is supported, among other things, by funding programs from the Fede­ral Minis­try of Trans­por­ta­tion. — This could also help drive demand for hydro­gen and the corre­spon­ding infra­struc­ture. Daim­ler Truck supports the deve­lo­p­ment of hydro­gen refue­ling stati­ons capa­ble of dispen­sing both gaseous and liquid hydro­gen. This allows all common forms of H2 to be offe­red at a single station, just as we are accus­to­med to with gaso­line and diesel. This inte­gra­tion enables the deve­lo­p­ment of a stan­dar­di­zed infra­struc­ture while redu­cing costs through higher utiliza­tion rates. Today’s hydro­gen inter­nal combus­tion engi­nes require gaseous hydro­gen. Tech­ni­cally, howe­ver, a tran­si­tion to liquid hydrogen—as Daim­ler Truck alre­ady uses in its fuel cell trucks—is also conceiva­ble. This inte­gra­ted approach makes it easier for custo­mers to tran­si­tion to hydro­­­gen-based transportation. 

Start­ing in late 2027, hydro­­­gen-powered trucks can thus be intro­du­ced into the market on a scalable basis to make a sustainable and measura­ble contri­bu­tion to the decar­bo­niza­tion of road freight transport.

Two tech­no­lo­gies, one goal: decar­bo­ni­zing road freight transport

Daim­ler Truck is pursuing a dual stra­tegy to decar­bo­nize its vehicle port­fo­lio using battery-elec­­tric and hydro­­­gen-based power­trains. Battery-elec­­tric trucks are parti­cu­larly well-suited for predic­ta­ble routes, inclu­ding heavy-duty long-haul trans­port, and thus cover a large portion of custo­mers’ use cases. Fuel cell tech­no­logy offers advan­ta­ges, parti­cu­larly in flexi­ble and deman­ding long-haul trans­port. In combi­na­tion with liquid hydro­gen, this enables ranges of well over 1,000 km with short refue­ling times. 

The hydro­gen inter­nal combus­tion engine, in turn, is charac­te­ri­zed by high robust­ness, lower system comple­xity compared to fuel cells, and very little need for adapt­a­tion to exis­ting vehicle archi­tec­tures. It is also parti­cu­larly well-suited for appli­ca­ti­ons with high payloads. Due to its compact design and the ability to utilize exis­ting indus­trial infra­struc­ture, the tech­no­logy can be imple­men­ted cost-effec­­tively. Trucks powered by fuel cells or hydro­gen combus­tion engi­nes thus repre­sent a sensi­ble comple­ment to battery-elec­­tric trucks for customers. 

Hydro­gen will play a key role in the decar­bo­niza­tion of nume­rous econo­mic sectors, inclu­ding the steel indus­try and nearly all energy-inten­­sive sectors. Further­more, exis­ting chal­lenges rela­ted to infra­struc­ture and energy avai­la­bi­lity unders­core the need for hydro­gen in road freight trans­port as well. As elec­tri­fi­ca­tion progres­ses in Europe, the power grid is beco­ming incre­asingly strai­ned. Expan­ding the high-voltage grid accor­din­gly invol­ves considera­ble time and expense. It would be faster and more cost-effec­­tive to deve­lop elec­tri­city and hydro­gen infra­struc­ture in parallel. 

Against the back­drop of recent geopo­li­ti­cal deve­lo­p­ments and Europe’s contin­ued heavy reli­ance on impor­ted fossil fuels—currently more than 50 percent of its primary energy comes from coal, oil, and gas—hydrogen can help diver­sify the energy supply. As a globally trada­ble, rene­wa­ble, and virtually inex­haus­ti­ble energy source, hydro­gen has the poten­tial to increase secu­rity of supply and reli­eve pres­sure on the energy system. 

Further­more, hydro­gen can make an important contri­bu­tion to streng­thening compe­ti­ti­ve­ness in road freight trans­port: Europe’s indus­trial base, tech­no­lo­gi­cal exper­tise, and manu­fac­tu­ring infra­struc­ture provide the foun­da­tion for further expan­ding Europe’s posi­tion in hydro­gen and fuel cell tech­no­logy and secu­ring long-term value creation.