Vätgas network expands despite low uptake

Sweden’s state-funded push to build a national hydrogen refuelling network has delivered ten stations so far, yet only a handful of trucks currently use the fuel.

Hydri, the consortium behind the rollout, received 190 million Swedish kronor from the Climate Leap programme to install hydrogen pumps across the country. The tenth station opened two months ago, but Transportstyrelsen records show just six hydrogen-powered trucks registered nationwide.

“We need diversity to reduce our vulnerability,” said Mattias Goldmann, chief executive of the 2030 Secretariat, an industry body working toward Sweden’s and the EU’s 2030 climate targets. Goldmann argued that politicians have agreed on a broad transition to renewable fuels, with hydrogen playing a supporting role alongside electricity, HVO and biogas.

Hydri’s chairman, Michel Thomas, predicted that once the market matures, between 10,000 and 20,000 hydrogen trucks could be on the road. In the meantime, operating costs remain far higher than diesel, discouraging early adopters.