Part of a wider effort to support the roll-out of key technology to decarbonise freight transportation, the effort will focus on the supply of green hydrogen generated from water using renewable power.

Complementing the effort, Daimler Truck expects to deliver its hydrogen-powered vehicles in UK customers from 2025.

Emma Delaney, bp’s Executive Vice-President for Customer and Products, said, “Hydrogen is critical to decarbonising hard-to-abate sectors – and for heavy and long-distance freight it is sometimes the only answer.

“Working with a leading manufacturer like Daimler Truck, we can accelerate the deployment of both vehicles and infrastructure and pioneer the use of hydrogen to fuel the next generation of [UK] freight.

“From producing and supplying hydrogen through to building and operating the fuelling stations, bp is perfectly positioned to transform transport and ultimately build a better energy future.”

As well as supporting targets laid out in the UK Prime Minister’s 10-Point-Plan and the UK’s Hydrogen Strategy, the duo’s effort also support’s Daimler Truck’s ambition to offer only new vehicles that are CO2-neutral in Europe, North America and Japan by 2039.

On this, Karin Rådström, CEO of Mercedes-Benz Trucks and Member of the Board of Management at Daimler Truck, said, “We are consistently pursuing our vision of CO2-neutral transport. Especially for CO2-netual long-haul road transportation, the hydrogen-powered fuel cell drive will become indispensable in the future.

“Together with bp we want to jointly develop and scale the required hydrogen infrastructure by putting our hydrogen-powered fuel cell trucks into our customers’ hand and thus supporting the decarbonisation of the UK freight network,

“At the same time, political support plays an important role in promoting the creation of an infrastructure for green hydrogen and in making an economically viable use of fuel cell trucks possible for our customers.”