Hydrogen-Fueled Medium- and Heavy-Duty Vehicles (MHDVs): Overview, Deployment Activities, and Considerations for Congress

Fuel cell-electric vehicles consume hydrogen and atmospheric oxygen to provide electric power, turning a motor while giving off only heat and water. The recent rise in fuel cell-electric vehicles is often focused on light-duty vehicles (i.e., cars), and at the end of 2023, 16,900 were registered in the United States. Vehicle manufacturers are nonetheless announcing demonstrations of small numbers of hydrogen-fueled medium- and heavy-duty vehicles (MHDVs or “trucks”)—on-road vehicles weighing from 10,000 pounds up to 80,000 pounds, with cargo, for long-haul applications. These vehicles take advantage of the performance of the fuel cell powertrain including emitting no pollutants. MHDVs provide services essential to economic activity, including goods movement, passenger mobility, refuse collection and hauling, cement mixing/delivery, and so forth. Fuel cell-electric trucks can provide these services as an emissions-free alternative to their gasoline and diesel counterparts but have costs as much as two to three times as high. Globally, fuel cell-electric trucks lag their light-duty counterparts in adopting fuel cell-electric powertrains by more than three to one, according to data from the International Energy Agency. The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) U.S. National Clean Hydrogen Strategy and Roadmap envisages hydrogen-fueled MHDVs as a way of decarbonizing an energy application that, according to DOE, is otherwise “difficult to electrify.” A number of programs funded in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA; P.L. 117-58) and P.L. 117-169, known as the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA), support the development and commercialization of hydrogen-fueled MHDVs. The IIJA funded the Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs at $8 billion and specified that at least one hub be based on the transportation sector. According to news reports in March 2025, DOE was considering whether to discontinue funding for some of the seven announced hydrogen hubs. Additional funding sources for MHDVs that could be applied to hydrogen-fueled vehicles include, but are not limited to, the Clean Heavy-Duty Vehicles Program ($1 billion, IRA); the Reduction of Truck Emissions at Port Facilities Grant Program ($400 million, IIJA); and the Port Infrastructure Development Program ($2.25 billion, IIJA, and over $500 million from annual appropriations from FY2022 through FY2024). A January 2025 executive order, “Unleashing American Energy,” and DOE’s reported plans to review all post-election awards may also impact funding for clean energy and hydrogen. Bills introduced in the 118th Congress that addressed hydrogen-fueled MHDVs included H.R. 3447, which would have added a weight allowance for hydrogen fuel cell MHDVs on the Interstate Highway System; the Hydrogen for Trucks Act of 2023, S. 648, and the Hydrogen for Trucks Act, H.R. 6871, both of which would have funded a demonstration program, including refueling of fuel cell-electric trucks; and the Hydrogen for Ports Act of 2023, S. 647, and the Hydrogen for Ports Act, H.R. 6872, both of which would have authorized a grant program to support purchase of trucks for hauling offloaded cargo within a port (i.e., drayage) and other shore-side hauling needs. If Congress concludes that the continued development and deployment of hydrogen-fueled MHDVs is warranted, it might consider the following legislative options: adding a weight allowance for fuel cell MHDVs, as in H.R. 3447 (118th Congress), similar to the existing allowance for natural gas and battery-electric vehicles; legislating the incentives in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration fuel consumption standards for MHDVs that provide credits for advanced vehicle technology such as fuel cell-electric trucks; offering incentives that encourage early deployment of fuel cell-electric MHDVs by fleets operating in the long-haul and regional-haul goods movement business; and providing tax relief for purchase of power equipment on board the vehicle that provides electric power through a fuel cell.