Saying goodbye to diesel trucks? Britain may ban them from 2040

Britain is likely to intensify its war against combustion vehicles in the coming months. We know that last November Boris Johnson executives banned cars with combustion engines for 2030 (hybrids allow them until 2035); Objectives in heavy transport are not so defined.

At the time, Johnson was not going back with cars, but with heavy traffic (much more complicated by vehicle autonomy), I will discuss the ban on its sale later. However, three months later there was no news of this.

Therefore, the National Infrastructure Authority (NIC), an organization with functions to advise the British Government on long-term challenges to the country, has asked Johnson to seize power in this matter.

NIC has issued a statement this week calling on the British executive to clarify the apparent ban on the sale of combustion trucks beyond 2040..

“By providing the industry with a clear goal of ending sales of diesel-powered heavy vehicles, there is an opportunity to demonstrate the same ambition that the British government has shown with cars and vans,” NIC said.

NIC is the reason for this position, this body considers it Road and rail freight will account for up to 20% of total greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

An estimate is determined, because today they are carried near 1.6 billion tons of goods in the UK every year. An amount will increase additionally due to the popularity of online sales.

For this reason, the organization says that while the government has promised that the United Kingdom will become a neutral country by 2050, not only will it stop selling burning cars, but road transport will also be stable.

Hydrogen, a very interesting alternative

While there is a difficult future for fuel trucks in the UK, other technologies (such as hydrogen) are taking over pools. Especially the battery-powered electric vehicle in city cars, because it makes more sense than the big vehicles dedicated to transportation.

Toyota, one of the most advanced companies in this regard, has already developed a set of prototypes of hydrogen fuel cell trucks for future production that are preparing to run transport lanes in the United States.

According to the Japanese company, these trucks have a very small hydrogen storage space located behind the cabin that holds six hydrogen tanks and a new and more powerful lithium ion battery, which allows the engine to carry energy flow. With this configuration, the second generation fuel cell system has an actual range of more than 480 km with a load capacity of over 36 tons.

“This is the most important step in converting to non-emission heavy duty trucks. Our first truck prototypes have proven that the fuel cell electric drive is capable of carrying more loads in daily use. These new prototypes will not only be the vehicle for actual production, but will also allow them to begin to look beyond traffic,” said Toyota North. Said Andrew Lund, chief engineer of the United States.

Toyota’s 2050 environmental goal is to completely eliminate CO2 emissions from vehicles, operations and supply chains within that year.

The Japanese company stressed that “converting transport trucks currently operating as ‘zero emission’ fuel cell electric trucks will bring Toyota closer to that goal and improve people’s quality of life.”

Hyundai also challenges hydrogen

Also, another company that makes a strong challenge on hydrogen is Hyundai. In this sense, the Korean manufacturer plans to use its new concept HTC-6 Neptune industrial vehicle with a zero-emission hydrogen fuel cell system.

The multinational company predicts that the final version of the HTC-6 Neptune will be launched in a maximum of four years, for which it will develop an advanced fuel cell system with greater durability and power, making it ideal for heavy trucks.

In addition, Hyundai also provided a mobile fuel cell generator, which uses two fuel cells, which are also used in the Nexus, generating a maximum power of 160 kW.