Daimler Truck will deploy its NextGenH2 hydrogen truck with logistics group Dachser as first customer, operating from Dachser’s Karlsruhe centre from late December 2026. The truck uses liquid hydrogen and the cellcentric BZA150 fuel cell for a claimed 1,000+ km range; around 100 units are planned for customer trials in Germany from the end of 2026.

This is hydrogen’s most credible commercial test in European trucking to date: not a demonstration loop but integration into a major operator’s live national and international network. The data that will matter isn’t the range figure — it’s whether liquid-hydrogen refuelling infrastructure covers Dachser’s actual routing, and what the fuel costs per kilometre against both diesel and battery-electric. Daimler is explicitly running a dual-track strategy (battery-electric eActros family + hydrogen NextGenH2), the same pluralism Volvo shows with its HPDI combustion tests.

WattTonne’s standing read for fleets: this decade is battery-electric for duty cycles that fit; hydrogen contests the residual long-haul niche from 2028+. The NextGenH2 trials will produce the first honest €/km hydrogen data worth planning against — we’ll track it, and we’ll score it when the evidence exists, same as every other claim.