Start of Pilot Operation for 5 Large Hydrogen Trucks... Goal of 10,000 Units by 2030

Ministry of Environment Hosts Commemorative Event for Pilot Operation of Large Hydrogen Cargo Trucks (11t Class)

Hydride vehicle (11-ton class).

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Joo Sang-don] On the afternoon of the 23rd, the Ministry of Environment will hold a commemorative event for the pilot operation of large hydrogen cargo trucks (11-ton class) at KINTEX in Ilsan, together with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, and Hyundai Motor Company.

Logistics companies such as CJ Logistics, Hyundai Glovis, and Coupang will also attend this event to express their commitment to public-private cooperation for carbon neutrality in the cargo transportation sector.

This hydrogen cargo truck pilot project has been jointly promoted by the public and private sectors following the business agreement for the promotion of the hydrogen cargo truck pilot project signed in May last year.

A total of five hydrogen cargo trucks will be operated through this pilot project. CJ Logistics will deploy two trucks (Incheon-Incheon Airport, Incheon-Gyeonggi Gwangju), Hyundai Glovis two trucks (Ulsan-Gyeongju, Ulsan-Yangsan), and Coupang one truck (Incheon Seo-gu-Yeongjongdo). Over the next year, each company plans to transport international express cargo and steel plates 1,000 to 1,500 times.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport plans to check the performance of hydrogen cargo trucks during the pilot operation period in preparation for the commercialization of hydrogen cargo trucks in the future, and also secure data necessary for the expansion of hydrogen-based logistics systems, such as hydrogen consumption.

An official from the Ministry of Environment said, "The estimated greenhouse gas emissions from road freight transport amount to about 28 million tons, accounting for about 30% of the total carbon emissions in the transportation sector," adding, "Regarding ultrafine dust emissions, cargo trucks account for about 70% among road mobile pollution sources, making the transition to zero-emission (hydrogen and electric) vehicles urgent to achieve 'carbon neutrality by 2050.'"

While small cargo trucks have been launched as electric vehicles and are being utilized in logistics sites, large cargo trucks, which have a low proportion of the total number of vehicles but emit significant greenhouse gases and fine dust, have not yet had suitable zero-emission vehicles released.

Considering that hydrogen vehicles have competitiveness over electric vehicles in terms of driving distance and power output for large cargo trucks, a transition centered on hydrogen vehicles is necessary. The Ministry of Environment expects that carbon neutrality in the cargo transportation sector will accelerate further starting with this pilot operation of hydrogen cargo trucks.

The government plans to actively promote various support measures to supply 10,000 hydrogen cargo trucks by 2030 in line with the plan to convert 500,000 commercial vehicles to zero-emission vehicles by 2030, which has a significant carbon reduction effect.

Hong Jeong-gi, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Environment, said, "While passenger cars and buses are gradually being converted to zero-emission vehicles such as hybrid cars and natural gas buses, this pilot project has created an opportunity to directly supply zero-emission vehicles for large cargo trucks without intermediate vehicle types," adding, "We will use this hydrogen cargo truck pilot operation as a turning point to revitalize the supply of hydrogen cargo trucks, accelerate the expansion of hydrogen refueling stations next year, and speed up the transition not only of hydrogen passenger cars but also hydrogen commercial vehicles."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.