Video: Mercedes-Benz fuel cell truck completes altitude test 

Daimler Truck has completed the first altitude test on public roads with its hydrogen fuel cell Mercedes-Benz GenH2 prototype. 

The vehicle recently completed a crossing on the Brenner Pass – one of the main European freight arteries at the border between Austria and Italy.

In 2019 alone, around 40 million tonnes of freight were transported by truck via the four-lane transit route located at an altitude of up to 1370 metres. That’s around 2.5 million trucks per year.

Daimler says the week-long test drives were a major milestone on its test programme checklist. Daimler Truck engineers repeatedly crossed the Brenner Pass with the fuel cell semi-trailer truck carrying a typical load on the 120km highway stretch between the Italian city of Bolzano and Innsbruck in Austria.

Bolzano served as the base for the test drives as it hosts a hydrogen filling station operated by H2 South Tyrol. The topography of the surrounding area is also ideal for thorough performance tests of the fuel cell system at various altitude levels, Daimler says. 

One of the highlights of the tests was driving the tractor unit up the Penser Joch Mountain to an altitude of 2211 meters. The findings of this first altitude test programme with regards to the interaction of fuel cell and battery in demanding topography, as well as the forward-looking operating strategy on the Brenner route, are now being incorporated into the further development towards the series vehicle. 

More test drives in mountainous terrain are planned for the coming year, the company says. 

The GenH2 truck is being developed particularly for heavy-duty transport and long-haul applications. The development goal is a range of 1000 kilometers and more. The start of series production is planned for the second half of the decade.