Daimler Trucks and Volvo Signing Joint Venture

Daimler Truck AG and Volvo Group have signed a binding agreement to establish a fuel cell joint venture, aiming to develop and market leading fuel cell systems for CO2-neutral long-haul transportation.

Daimler Truck AG and Volvo Group Form Fuel Cell Joint Venture – cellcentric

The Volvo Group and Daimler Truck AG have now a signed binding agreement for a joint venture to develop, produce and commercialize fuel-cell systems for use in heavy-duty trucks as the primary focus, as well as other applications. The ambition of both partners is to make the new company a leading global manufacturer of fuel-cells, and thus help the world take a major step towards climate-neutral and sustainable transportation by 2050. The Volvo Group will acquire 50 percent of the partnership interests in Daimler Truck Fuel Cell GmbH & Co. KG for approximately EUR 0.6 billion on a cash and debt-free basis. Closing of the transaction is expected during the first half of 2021. The transaction is still subject to merger control review by relevant authorities, as well as other approvals.

“For us at Daimler Truck AG and our intended partner, the Volvo Group, the hydrogen-based fuel-cell is a key technology for enabling CO2-neutral transportation in the future. We are both fully committed to the Paris Climate Agreement for decarbonizing road transport and other areas, and to building a prosperous jointly held company that will deliver large volumes of fuel-cell systems,” says Martin Daum, Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler Truck AG and Member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG.

The joint venture will take advantage of the expertise and extensive experience from several decades of development work on fuel-cells at Daimler.

“In the future, the world will be powered by a combination of battery-electric and fuel-cell electric vehicles, along with other renewable fuels to some extent. The formation of our fuel-cell joint venture is an important step in shaping a world we want to live in,” says Martin Lundstedt, President and CEO of the Volvo Group.

Together, the Volvo Group and Daimler Truck AG have tremendous and longstanding experience in technology development, industrialization and large-scale vehicle production. The future joint venture will be able to benefit from this from the start, which is a unique position for a start-up company. Deep and proven knowledge of modularity, efficiency and reliability will be in place from the get-go, as well as world-leading processes in areas such as quality, production technology and industrialization.

Daimler Truck AG and the Volvo Group are both successful global players thanks to a deep understanding of their customers’ businesses, enabling them to maximize customer value. The future joint venture will build on that tradition to take a similar position in fuel-cells that the Volvo Group and Daimler Truck AG have in commercial vehicles.

In addition to trucks, there are also other areas of application for this type of fuel-cell system. The joint venture will develop a system with several power stages, including a twin system with 300 kW continuous power for heavy-duty long-haul trucks. Based on the demanding conditions in heavy-duty truck applications, the joint venture’s products are also ideally suited for other use cases such as stationary power generation.

In 2020, Rolls-Royce plc and Daimler Truck AG signed an agreement to cooperate on stationary fuel-cell generators for the CO2-neutral emergency power supply of critical facilities such as data centers. The intention is to offer emission-free alternatives to diesel engines, which are currently applied in generators for emergency use. A final cooperation agreement is expected to be signed by the end of the year.

The Volvo Group and Daimler Truck AG will own equal interests in the joint venture, but continue to be competitors in all other areas such as vehicle technology and fuel-cell integration in trucks.

Both companies’ goal is to start with customer tests of trucks with fuel-cells in about three years and to be in series production during the second half of this decade.

Closing of the transaction is expected during the first half of 2021. The transaction is still subject to merger control review by the relevant authorities, as well as other approvals.

Joint venture for large-scale production of fuel-cells: Volvo Group and Daimler Truck AG sign binding agreement for new fuel-cell joint venture.

Volvo Group and Daimler Truck AG accelerate development of sustainable transport

Daimler Truck AG and Volvo Group join forces in a joint venture to develop and produce fuel cell systems for heavy-duty vehicles. The goal is to achieve CO2-neutral transport in Europe by 2050 and to accelerate the market introduction of fuel cell trucks.

Volvo Group and Daimler Truck AG Accelerate Development of Fuel Cells for Sustainable Transport – cellcentric

Sharing the Green Deal vision of sustainable transport and a carbon neutral Europe by 2050, two leading companies in the commercial vehicle industry, Daimler Truck AG and the Volvo Group, have signed a preliminary non-binding agreement to establish a new joint venture. The intention is to develop, produce and commercialize fuel cell systems for heavy-duty vehicle applications and other use cases. Daimler will consolidate all its current fuel cell activities in the joint venture. The Volvo Group will acquire 50% in the joint venture for the sum of approximately EUR 0.6 billion on a cash and debt free basis.

“Transport and logistics keep the world moving, and the need for transport will continue to grow. Truly CO2-neutral transport can be accomplished through electric drive trains with energy coming either from batteries or by converting hydrogen on board into electricity. For trucks to cope with heavy loads and long distances, fuel cells are one important answer and a technology where Daimler has built up significant expertise through its Mercedes-Benz fuel cell unit over the last two decades. This joint initiative with the Volvo Group is a milestone in bringing fuel cell powered trucks and buses onto our roads,” says Martin Daum, Chairman of the Board of Management Daimler Truck AG and Member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG.

“Electrification of road transport is a key element in delivering the so called Green Deal, a carbon neutral Europe and ultimately a carbon neutral world. Using hydrogen as a carrier of green electricity to power electric trucks in long-haul operations is one important part of the puzzle, and a complement to battery electric vehicles and renewable fuels. Combining the Volvo Group and Daimler’s experience in this area to accelerate the rate of development is good both for our customers and for society as a whole. By forming this joint venture, we are clearly showing that we believe in hydrogen fuel cells for commercial vehicles. But for this vision to become reality, other companies and institutions also need to support and contribute to this development, not least in order to establish the fuel infrastructure needed,” says Martin Lundstedt, Volvo Group President and CEO.

The Volvo Group and Daimler Truck AG will be 50/50 partners in the joint venture, which will operate as an independent and autonomous entity, with Daimler Truck AG and the Volvo Group continuing to be competitors in all other areas of business. Joining forces will decrease development costs for both companies and accelerate the market introduction of fuel cell systems in products used for heavy-duty transport and demanding long-haul applications. In the context of the current economic downturn cooperation has become even more necessary in order to meet the Green Deal objectives within a feasible time-frame.

The common goal is for both companies to offer heavy-duty vehicles with fuel cells for demanding long-haul applications in series production in the second half of the decade. In addition, other automotive and non-automotive use cases are also part of the new joint venture’s scope.

To enable the joint venture, Daimler Trucks is bringing together all group-wide fuel cell activities in a new Daimler Truck fuel cell unit. Part of this bundling of activities is the allocation of the operations of “Mercedes-Benz Fuel Cell GmbH”, which has longstanding experience in the development of fuel cell and hydrogen storage systems for various vehicle applications, to Daimler Truck AG.

The joint venture will include the operations in Nabern/Germany (currently headquarters of the Mercedes-Benz Fuel Cell GmbH) with production facilities in Germany and Canada.

The signed preliminary agreement is non-binding. A final agreement is expected by Q3 and closing before year-end 2020. All potential transactions are subject to examination and approval by the responsible competition authorities.

A hydrogen fuel cell converts the chemical energy of the fuel, in this case hydrogen, and oxygen (in the air) into electricity. The electricity powers the electrical motors that propel an electrical vehicle.

There are two main ways to produce the hydrogen needed. So-called green hydrogen can be produced locally at the gas station, using electricity to convert water into hydrogen. Blue hydrogen is expected to be produced from natural gas, utilizing carbon capture technology to create a carbon neutral fuel.

Daimler Truck AG and the Volvo Group share the vision of sustainable transport solutions.

Daimler Truck AG and the Volvo Group complete creation of fuel-cell joint venture: cellcentric

Daimler Truck AG and Volvo Group have officially established the fuel cell joint venture, cellcentric, today. Aiming to enable climate-neutral and sustainable transportation by 2050, the venture will develop and market commercial fuel cell systems for heavy trucks and other applications.

Daimler Truck AG and Volvo Group Launch Fuel Cell Joint Venture cellcentric – cellcentric

Daimler Truck AG and the Volvo Group today completed the transaction to form the previously announced fuel-cell joint venture. The Volvo Group has acquired 50 percent of the partnership interests in the existing Daimler Truck Fuel Cell GmbH & Co. KG for approximately EUR 0.6 billion on a cash and debt-free basis. The ambition is to make the new joint venture a leading global manufacturer of fuel-cells, and thus help the world take a major step towards climate-neutral and sustainable transportation by 2050. Daimler Truck AG and the Volvo Group have agreed to rename the company cellcentric GmbH & Co. KG.

The joint venture will develop, produce and commercialize fuel-cell systems for use in heavy-duty trucks as the primary focus, as well as other applications. A key goal of Daimler Truck AG and the Volvo Group is to start with customer tests of trucks with fuel-cells in about three years and to commence series production during the second half of this decade.

The Volvo Group and Daimler Truck AG own equal interests in the joint venture, but continue to be competitors in all other areas such as vehicle technology and fuel-cell integration in trucks.

In November 2020, the Volvo Group and Daimler Truck AG signed a binding agreement for the joint venture. A preliminary non-binding agreement was already signed in April the same year.

Daimler Truck AG and the Volvo Group today completed the transaction to form the previously announced fuel-cell joint venture.

Are you as excited about hydrogen and fuel cell technology as we are? Do you want to learn more about our work at cellcentric? We are here to help.

Daimler Truck AG and the Volvo Group complete creation of fuel-cell joint venture: cellcentric

More News

Daimler Trucks and Volvo Signing Joint Venture

Volvo Group and Daimler Truck AG accelerate development of sustainable transport