For over a year, hylane has been renting commercial vehicles with fuel cell propulsion in a pay-per-use model and now operates the largest hydrogen truck fleet in the European Union. The team brought the first H2 truck – a Hyundai XCIENT Fuel Cell – to German roads in November 2022. This truck, along with additional models from the Korean manufacturer, has consistently demonstrated reliable performance in real-world operations with hylane and its customers. Configured with dry and refrigerated boxes, operating as solo vehicles or with trailers, these trucks transport a variety of goods daily across Germany and neighboring countries.
Sara Schiffer, Managing Director of hylane: "Together with Hyundai, we have helped make hydrogen mobility a reality in Germany. Our goal was to evaluate whether hydrogen has the potential to make our supply chains more sustainable. For more than a year, Hyundai trucks have been in daily use nationwide with our users. They have proven to be a convincing option due to their reliability and pleasant driving experience. They not only enable our users to make their transports more environmentally friendly but also offer the opportunity to gain valuable early experience with this promising technology."
New trucks with swap bodies
Building on this success, hylane has decided to expand its fleet with additional XCIENT Fuel Cell trucks. A key innovation is that some of these vehicles will now feature large swap bodies. Designed for seamless multimodal transport, swap bodies are compatible with multiple logistics networks, including road, rail, and sea, making them particularly valuable in an export-driven country like Germany. Additionally, they help optimize freight flows in sectors such as distribution logistics and general cargo transport. With the introduction of swap bodies, hylane is broadening access to hydrogen mobility for new user groups and expanding its customer base.
Beat Hirschi, Managing Director of Hyundai Hydrogen Mobility: "Hyundai came to market early with this technology but always focused on quality and reliability. The 32 new XCIENT Fuel Cell trucks from hylane underscore that customers appreciate this high availability in daily operations. With this new order, hylane and its customers also confirm that they recognize the importance of hydrogen mobility for the future of heavy transport. This motivates our entire team to further develop this forward-looking technology. An example of this is the new swap body, which significantly expands the application possibilities of hydrogen trucks."
Technical data of the vehicles
The XCIENT Fuel Cell trucks have a driving range of approximately 400 kilometers. Each vehicle is equipped with seven hydrogen storage tanks, enabling an average refueling time of just ten minutes.
Bernd Zens, Managing Director of hylane: "We are pleased to have Hyundai as a strong partner by our side, who recognized the potential of hydrogen for the decarbonization of heavy road freight transport early on and is already able to deliver series-ready fuel cell vehicles today. We are determined to further advance the market ramp-up of this technology to be able to offer not only ecologically but also economically sustainable transports as quickly as possible."
Funded by the BMDV
All vehicles are funded under the guideline for the promotion of light and heavy commercial vehicles with alternative, climate-friendly drives and the associated refueling and charging infrastructure (KsNI) by the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport (BMDV). The funding guideline is coordinated by NOW GmbH, and applications are approved by the Federal Office for Goods Transport. Through a usage-based rental model called pay-per-use, hylane customers only pay for the kilometers actually driven. The funds from the funding are fully used to reduce the rental rates for the offered vehicles and thus offer competitive prices.
