Dongfeng and the DOE reference cost for fuel cells

Hydrogen truck specifications are usually compared by range and power. Dongfeng announced a platform with 1,700 km of range, hydrogen consumption as low as 7 kg per 100 km and a 400 kW fuel-cell system, with peak efficiency of 65% and cold start at minus 40 degrees Celsius.

None of those figures says what it costs to keep the system running. The United States Department of Energy, in Hydrogen Program Record 23002, dated May 23, 2023, adopts for Class 8 long-haul trucks a requirement of 25,000 hours, equivalent to one million miles, and models a 57% loss of electrochemical surface area over that period, plus two replacements of balance-of-plant components.

Cold start at minus 40 degrees and 65% efficiency widen the operating window and cut consumption per kilometre. The same calculation has to carry the stack, roughly 75% of system cost, and its degradation across 25,000 hours.

A fleet that contracts on the degradation curve, not the brochure range, knows its cost per kilometre to the end of the contract.