Truck manufacturer Daimler Truck wants to promote the export of clean hydrogen to Europe together with green electricity producer Masdar from Abu Dhabi.

The DAX-listed company signed a letter of intent with Masdar on Thursday to examine the feasibility of exporting liquid hydrogen from the United Arab Emirates to Europe. "We want to be a catalyst," said Daimler CEO Martin Daum. "We need verifiable proof for our customers that we will have green hydrogen available in 2030." It is not about being part of the value chain itself - in other words, paying for ship transportation or investing more in the refuelling infrastructure.

Masdar was founded in 2006 to produce renewable energy in the oil-producing country. The company has developed projects worth more than 30 billion dollars in more than 40 countries. Masdar aims to produce one million tons of green hydrogen by 2030. To this end, the company has entered into partnerships with the hydrogen investor Hy24 and the oil giant Total from France, the oil and gas group OMV and the electricity supplier Verbund AG from Austria, among others. Masdar intends to use the latter to set up a hydrogen production facility in Spain.

Daimler wants to ensure that enough of the sustainable fuel, which is also urgently needed in industry and shipping, is available for refueling trucks. In addition to battery-electric drives, the global market leader for heavy-duty trucks is also developing fuel cell drives that convert hydrogen into energy. The Swabians want to sell at least 10,000 hydrogen trucks per year from 2030. These alone would require 100,000 tons of fuel per year. In order to comply with EU regulations on reducing CO2 emissions, Daimler Truck would have to sell around 50,000 electric trucks per year from 2030, said Daum.

(Report by Ilona Wissenbach. Edited by Olaf Brenner. If you have any queries, please contact the editorial team at frankfurt.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com)