(Correction to the message sent on January 25, 2024 at 10:18 am: The last sentence of the penultimate paragraph should correctly read "fuel cell factory" rpt. "fuel cell factory").

LEINFELDEN-ECHTERDINGEN/ABU DHABI (dpa-AFX) - The commercial vehicle manufacturer Daimler Truck and the Arab energy company Masdar are examining a cooperation to supply hydrogen from renewable energies to Europe. The companies signed a letter of intent to this end, as Daimler Truck and the state-owned company Masdar announced on Thursday in Leinfelden-Echterdingen near Stuttgart and in Abu Dhabi. The agreement supports the goal of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to become a leading producer and supplier in the low-carbon hydrogen market by 2031.

According to Daimler Truck CEO Martin Daum, the main aim is to develop business models around hydrogen and thus to be able to make hydrogen available to customers. In a video conference with journalists, he explained that Daimler Truck wanted to act as a "catalyst" to help solve the "chicken and egg problem" of unavailable hydrogen trucks and the lack of the necessary fuel.

"We will definitely not operate a ship ourselves, nor will we build a pipeline," said the manager. Own investments are not at the center of the planned cooperation. "But we have a lot of expertise and can offer an interface between the customers and key accounts of Daimler Truck and the hydrogen supplier." Daimler Truck primarily earns from the truck itself. "I can imagine offering a fuel cell truck with a hydrogen package," he added. By 2030, the truck manufacturer wants to sell a five-digit number of zero-emission vehicles in order to comply with EU emissions regulations. "A long-haul truck needs around 10 tons of hydrogen per year," said Daum.

Daimler Truck is pursuing a two-pronged strategy of battery-electric vehicles and hydrogen-powered fuel cells to reduce CO2 emissions. Due to the high possible ranges, these are to be used in particular for long-distance heavy-duty transportation. The Dax Group has founded a joint venture with its Swedish rival Volvo for fuel cells. The Cellcentric joint venture is to build a fuel cell factory in Weilheim an der Teck (Esslingen district).

During a trip to the Gulf States in spring 2022, Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens) agreed on deliveries of so-called green hydrogen to Germany. These are initially regarded as a test run to establish a hydrogen value chain between Germany and the UAE. Green hydrogen, which is produced using electricity from wind and solar power, for example, is intended to help reduce climate-damaging CO2 emissions from the combustion of fossil fuels and thus combat global warming./men/stw/mis/jha/