Stellantis Exits Hydrogen—But Toyota, BMW, and New Tech Say It’s Just Beginning

In this episode of The Hydrogen Podcast, Paul Rodden explores the real future of hydrogen in transportation—beyond the headlines.

🚫 Why Stellantis is abandoning hydrogen vehicle development
🚗 How Toyota, BMW, and Hyundai are doubling down on fuel cell mobility
🧪 New hydrogen sources: Natural Hydrogen, Methane Pyrolysis, and Nuclear H₂
🚚 Why hydrogen still dominates the future of heavy-duty transport
🌍 The lifecycle economics and environmental case vs. batteries

We’ll break down:

✅ The infrastructure and incentive gaps stalling hydrogen vehicle rollout
 ✅ How BMW’s iX5 and Toyota’s Mirai point to fuel cell resilience
 ✅ Why new hydrogen production methods could be cleaner and cheaper than batteries
✅ The economic argument for scaling hydrogen in trucking, buses, and fleet transport
✅ The role of geopolitics and resource scarcity in shaping the next mobility era

As lithium, cobalt, and nickel demand soar, could hydrogen offer a more sustainable, flexible future for global transport?

This episode offers a full-spectrum look at the tech, policy, and economics driving mobility beyond hydrocarbons.

Transcript

Today we’ll take a comprehensive journey through hydrogen’s role in transportation. From recent industry shakeups to the economic and climate calculus, we’ll dig into the future of mobility beyond hydrocarbons. All of this on today’s hydrogen podcast

Stellantis recently announced it is discontinuing its hydrogen fuel cell vehicle development program, including planned hydrogen-powered vans in France and Poland. The company cited the limited hydrogen refueling infrastructure, significant capital outlays required to scale, and the current lack of robust purchasing incentives as key reasons for the program’s wind-down.

For many observers, this move was expected. Stellantis, which includes major brands such as Peugeot, Fiat, and Citroën, has focused its core strategy on scaling proven, lower-risk electrification pathways rather than leading in emerging technology. Their relatively conservative approach, especially in their less premium portfolios, has often resulted in them following where others innovate. The company is pivoting its research and development to battery electrics and hybrids, in line with their broader business calculus.

Yet, as Stellantis steps back, companies like BMW and Toyota remain deeply committed to advancing hydrogen-powered vehicles for passenger transport. BMW, for instance, has moved forward with its iX5 Hydrogen pilot fleet, successfully deploying hydrogen-powered SUVs worldwide and establishing the real-world feasibility of this technology for drivers who prioritize range and quick refueling. BMW plans to introduce mass-produced hydrogen models from 2028, positioning hydrogen as a crucial technology for segments where batteries struggle to meet performance expectations.

Toyota’s vision is equally expansive. The Mirai continues as a flagship hydrogen model, with new trials underway for hydrogen-electric hybrids such as the Hiace van, which aims to combine extended range with ultra-low operational emissions. Toyota’s multifaceted investment in fuel cell technology illustrates their belief in hydrogen’s pivotal role, particularly as infrastructure matures and fuel cell costs decrease through scale and innovation.

Meanwhile, Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai, and other automakers are also progressing hydrogen vehicle research, lobbying for more robust infrastructure and regulatory support in Europe and Asia. These companies see hydrogen as complementary to batteries in a genuinely diversified zero-emissions future.

To fully appreciate hydrogen’s potential in transportation, it is essential to look beyond today’s dominant production methods and consider the broad spectrum of emerging hydrogen technologies that significantly lower lifecycle emissions and costs. While green hydrogen produced by electrolysis using renewable electricity is widely recognized as the cleanest form of hydrogen, the industry is witnessing exciting advancements in alternative production pathways that expand hydrogen’s role as a sustainable energy carrier.

One such promising avenue is natural hydrogen, sometimes called “gold hydrogen,” which is found seeping naturally from underground geological formations. Early research suggests that extracting natural hydrogen requires minimal processing and generates negligible greenhouse gas emissions. If scalable, this source could revolutionize hydrogen supply by providing ultra-low emissions hydrogen without the energy-intensive steps associated with traditional production.

Meanwhile, methane pyrolysis is gaining attention as an innovative process capable of splitting methane into hydrogen gas and solid carbon, completely avoiding CO₂ emissions typically associated with steam methane reforming. Powered by clean electricity, methane pyrolysis leverages existing natural gas infrastructure but delivers a drastically reduced carbon footprint. Additionally, it yields solid carbon as a valuable by-product, which can be sequestered or used industrially, further enhancing the sustainability profile.

Nuclear energy also presents a compelling opportunity for hydrogen generation. High-temperature nuclear reactors can efficiently produce hydrogen via thermochemical water splitting or support high-efficiency electrolysis. This approach offers round-the-clock, large-scale hydrogen production that is independent of weather or intermittent renewable generation, enabling a consistent supply of zero-carbon hydrogen at scale—an essential factor as hydrogen infrastructure develops and demand grows.

Taken together, these diverse production methods provide a flexible, resilient hydrogen supply chain that can meet growing transportation demands with dramatically reduced lifecycle emissions. This contrasts sharply with the resource-intensive batteries that dominate the electric vehicle market today. Manufacturing batteries requires substantial mining of critical metals like lithium, cobalt, and nickel—operations that often involve significant environmental degradation, high water consumption, and complex geopolitical challenges. With global demand for these metals projected to surge exponentially in the coming decades, concerns around supply chain sustainability and environmental impact are increasingly pressing.

In contrast, many hydrogen production methods—especially those based on natural hydrogen, nuclear energy, and methane pyrolysis—significantly reduce reliance on these scarce materials. This alleviates many of the environmental and social pressures linked to battery mineral extraction, promising a cleaner material footprint for hydrogen-powered transport.

Moreover, the economic implications are increasingly favorable. As methane pyrolysis and nuclear-powered hydrogen scale, production costs are expected to fall below $2 per kilogram in select regions, making the full lifecycle cost of hydrogen competitive with, or even lower than, that of battery electric vehicles when factoring in raw material sourcing, infrastructure, and energy supply. These evolving production pathways also reduce carbon intensity well beyond the current predominance of fossil-fuel-derived hydrogen, positioning hydrogen as not just a clean alternative, but potentially the cleanest and most sustainable one for many transportation applications.

Taken together, the technological advances and emerging production diversity confirm hydrogen’s increasingly compelling role as a low-impact, economically viable energy carrier. As these production methods mature and scale, the argument for hydrogen as a key element of a sustainable transportation future grows ever stronger.

Hydrogen’s most significant advantages are realized in heavy-duty transport. Battery-electric technology, while optimal for some passenger applications, faces major hurdles when scaled to large trucks, buses, or vehicles demanding extended range. The increased battery size and mass required for these assets lead to diminishing returns both economically and environmentally.

Hydrogen-powered heavy-duty vehicles, by contrast, refuel as quickly as diesel, travel much farther between stops, and avoid the burden of massive battery packs and complex charging infrastructure. Fleets in Europe, Asia, and North America are already adopting hydrogen for long-haul trucks, buses, and commercial vehicles, attracted by reduced downtime, higher payload capacity, and clear emission improvements as more green, nuclear, and naturally sourced hydrogen becomes available.

The rapidly broadening hydrogen supply chain, bolstered by innovative production techniques, is strengthening hydrogen's case not only as a climate solution but as an economically viable competitor to batteries in many use cases. The increasing diversity and scalability of hydrogen sources—from natural hydrogen wells to advanced pyrolysis and zero-carbon nuclear hydrogen—will be vital for accelerating both environmental gains and cost reduction.

Looking forward, hydrogen’s flexibility as a transport fuel—coupled with its diminishing environmental and economic costs—promises a future where battery and hydrogen-powered mobility work in tandem, each playing to their strengths across the evolving spectrum of transportation.

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