SENITH
Sharing Experiences to Navigate the Introduction of Trucks using Hydrogen
SENITH is a strategic collaboration between Chalmers University of Technology and the University of California, Davis. The project connects academia, industry, and public agencies in Sweden and California to accelerate the transition to heavy-duty hydrogen transport.
By sharing experiences and perspectives between actors from different regions and different parts of the value chain, the participants can develop demonstration projects, business models, and policies needed to establish a successful hydrogen ecosystem in both regions.
California has a long history of using hydrogen for cars and buses, and is now also focusing on heavy-duty trucks. An ongoing demonstration project in the Port of Oakland currently runs 30 heavy-duty hydrogen trucks. Over 400 actors in the state joined forces in the ARCHES “hydrogen hub”, aiming to deploy 5000 hydrogen trucks by 2030. However, due to the removal of federal funding, the project is now being renegotiated.
Sweden has started its hydrogen journey much later but is quickly catching up. Having two world-leading makers of heavy-duty trucks, Volvo Group and Scania, and hydrogen refueling stations covering most of Sweden, the preconditions are promising. Also, Sweden is preparing for a system demonstration project Hydrogen Logistics (HyLo), starting in 2026.
"The project takes advantage of my separately funded stay as a visiting researcher at UC Davis. It allows us to expand the reach of our work, building a stronger foundation for continuing collaboration between actors across the Atlantic.”
– Joel Löfving, Project Manager & Doctoral Student, Transport, Energy and Environment, Chalmers University of Technology
Beyond the important (but often isolated) R&D activities and demonstration projects we see today, there is a need to bring all actors together: businesses along the supply chain, academia, and public agencies. These should share their past experiences, knowledge, needs, and plans. By gathering these learnings in a structured way, and gathering actors to discuss them, joint strategies and partnerships needed for a successful introduction of hydrogen trucks can be formed. This would lay the groundwork for long-term fruitful collaborations that could be expanded across other interested parties in the US and EU, who are currently at a similar stage of this development.
The intended outcome of the project is threefold:
Take inventory of the current status, strategies, and past experiences
Understand what policies, business models, and computer modeling research are needed to successfully introduce hydrogen vehicles and refueling stations
Establish broader collaboration between the involved actors in the two countries, to facilitate innovation and partnerships between different functions and regions, to solve the issues that have been found
Project manager: Joel Löfving, Chalmers University of Technology
Parties: Chalmers University of Technology, UC Davis, Lindholmen Science Park, Scania, AB Volvo and Hydri
Project period: November 2025 – July 2026
