CEOs from the world’s leading energy, automotive, and technology companies have come together to issue a strong and unified message to European policymakers: Hydrogen mobility is essential to Europe’s climate goals, industrial competitiveness, and strategic resilience.

The group is calling for urgent action on hydrogen infrastructure buildout.

But another influential group of electrification experts says hydrogen is a technological dead end.

This group is urging the EU to accelerate the development of battery-electric trucks and a widespread electric vehicle infrastructure. 

At the Heart of a Clean Transport System

In a joint letter addressed to EU and Member State leaders, the CEOs urged policymakers to firmly position hydrogen mobility at the heart of Europe’s clean transport and industrial strategies. 

The letter has been signed by executives from more than 30 companies, from multinationals to smaller vendors that combined span the entire hydrogen mobility ecosystem. 

It calls for immediate and targeted policy support to unlock investment and scale deployment of hydrogen vehicles and infrastructure across the EU.

CEOs Point to Three Critical Issues:

• Hydrogen mobility is a strategic imperative: Complementing battery-electric vehicles, hydrogen technologies are vital to ensuring a diversified, resilient, and cost-effective decarbonization of road transport. A combined approach could save Europe between 300-500 billion euros in infrastructure costs by 2050. Two mobility infrastructures will be cheaper for Europe than relying on just electrification.

• Hydrogen mobility is a vector for jobs and industrial growth: Europe’s existing industrial strengths in automotive and advanced manufacturing can be leveraged to lead in hydrogen technology, providing up to 500,000 jobs by 2030.

• Hydrogen mobility unlocks critical energy system synergies: Hydrogen enables demand aggregation, supports hard-to-abate sectors, and drastically reduces renewable energy waste.

Calls for a More Coordinated Approach

Despite progress, the CEOs warn that hydrogen mobility in Europe will stagnate unless a more coordinated and pragmatic policy framework is implemented to support the rollout of the necessary infrastructure and achieve the scale needed for the hydrogen mobility market to flourish.

For this to happen, hydrogen mobility must form a central element of strategic initiatives such as the Sustainable Transport Investment Plan and Clean Industrial Deal, while the ongoing push to simplify EU regulations can help drive down the cost and complexity of building hydrogen mobility infrastructure.

Is Hydrogen a ‘Costly’ Detour?

But not everyone in Europe is onboard the hydrogen technology train.

In response to CEO’s open letter urging the EU to ramp up support for hydrogen mobility, other industry experts warned that hydrogen is a costly detour away from more proven green transportation solutions.

This group of experts say that investing in electrification is the most effective way to cut costs, boost job creation, and strengthen Europe's industrial competitiveness.

Electrification proponents are urging leading manufacturers like Volvo and Daimler Truck – both signatories of the hydrogen letter – to focus their efforts on advancing battery electric technologies.

Despite public commitments to electrify 50% of European truck sales by 2030, both Volvo and Daimler remain significantly off track, this group says.

They argue that in 2024, zero-emission vehicles accounted for less than 2% of their global truck sales and only 1.7% and <1% of their production capacity, respectively. 

Together, the two manufacturers hold nearly 90% of the European truck market. But to remain competitive amid accelerating electric truck demand, they will need to rapidly scale up production of affordable, high-volume electric trucks, the electrification experts argue.

“When it comes to choosing new trucks, fleet operators–from one-truck owner-operators to massive, well-known logistics firms–are all asking the same two questions,” said Ben Scott, head of energy demand at Carbon Tracker. “First, how much will this cost me over the long run? And second, will it actually do the job? Manufacturers need to give them reassurance that battery electric trucks won’t compromise on capability.”

Hydrogen at a Disadvantage

Hydrogen trucks face steep structural disadvantages, this group argues.

It notes that infrastructure for hydrogen is expensive to build and operate. Hydrogen infrastructure often costs two to three times more than electric vehicle charging networks both in terms of capital investment and ongoing operational expenses. 

Battery trucks will be cheaper to own and operate in Europe than hydrogen-powered equivalents until at least 2040, the group added. 

Franco-German economists echoed this concern, recommending investment should prioritise BETs “as these represent the most mature and market-ready technology for road freight transport.” 

While the EU has already committed substantial resources to hydrogen infrastructure–allocating around 25% of Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation (AFIR) funds to hydrogen-industry experts argue that further support is unjustified. 

“Hydrogen trucks aren’t expected to scale until around 2035, and the EU has already spent about a quarter of its infrastructure budget on them. That’s more than enough support,” said Jeppe Juul, head of transport policy at Green Transition Denmark.

Electric Trucks on the Move

Signs of momentum in the electric truck market are already emerging. Registrations of battery electric trucks in Europe grew by >50% year-on-year in Q1 2025, even though the total market remains at just 3.5%. 

New entrants like Windrose are showing it is possible to achieve total cost of ownership parity with diesel today–delivering electric trucks at scale with a focus on affordability.

Legacy manufacturers that continue to hedge risk being overtaken, the group warned. 

If Volvo and Daimler fail to scale electric truck availability and affordability in the near term, they not only jeopardize their climate commitments but risk falling behind newer, nimbler competitors undermining Europe’s industrial edge in the process.

“The next few years will be decisive for the future of the trucking industry,” said Merlin Jonack, transport policy officer at NABU. “On every critical measure–from energy costs to operating efficiency–battery electric trucks are clearly pulling ahead. Hydrogen, by contrast, will remain scarce and expensive for years to come and is urgently needed in sectors like aviation, shipping, and energy-intensive industries. Rather than conceding the race for battery-electric powertrains, European OEMs must now act decisively to close the gap and secure their competitiveness in a rapidly electrifying market.”

Investing further in hydrogen may seem like a hedge, the group warned. But in reality, it risks prolonging diesel dependence, weakening Europe’s industrial base, and eroding job security. 

What Europe’s freight sector needs now is clarity about the way forward, electrification experts said. 

Industry experts urge manufacturers to align industrial strategy, public investment, and innovation around battery electric trucks–both to accelerate progress on electrification and to safeguard industrial competitiveness.