Sales of battery-powered trucks are slow for Volvo, which sees great potential in hydrogen-powered internal combustion engines, especially for long-haul and heavy-duty applications where today’s battery technology is insufficient.
“We are investing more than ever in the internal combustion engine”, says Lars Stenqvist, Volvo’s chief technology officer.
As politicians push to boost sales of battery-powered trucks, interest in traditional powertrains – but with new fuels – is growing. Several manufacturers, including Sweden’s Volvo, see potential in internal combustion engines that run on hydrogen instead of diesel.
Volvo has partnered with the Canadian company Westport to develop a new fuel system called High Pressure Direct Injection (HPDI), in which a small amount of diesel fuel is injected under high pressure to enable compression ignition before hydrogen is added. The technology offers higher engine power, lower fuel consumption and energy efficiency similar to diesel.
Lars Stenqvist, Volvo’s Chief Technology Officer, emphasizes that the company sees hydrogen-powered internal combustion engines – along with battery and fuel cell power – as one of the keys to the so-called climate-friendly transportation of the future, and explains that the technology has come a long way in a short time.
“When we first started talking about hydrogen in the internal combustion engine four years ago, I called it a joker because of the many technical challenges. Today, we are much more confident that it will be a commercial product. It has gone from a joker to a card in the deck“, says Stenqvist.
Volvo plans to start the first customer tests of its hydrogen-powered internal combustion engines in 2026 and expects the technology to be commercially viable before the end of the decade.
