FACILITATING THE TRANSITION TO HYDROGEN FUEL CELL VEHICLES FOR SUSTAINABLE ROAD FREIGHT TRANSPORTATION

Abstract

As hydrogen increasingly emerges as a promising alternative to diesel in road freight transportation, this dissertation aims to support and accelerate the adoption of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles within the Gulf–Europe transport network, commonly known as the Gulf–Europe corridor. This provides a comprehensive investigation of the technological, economic, safety, and infrastructural challenges associated with this transition and proposes practical strategies to overcome them, outlining a structured pathway for the large-scale deployment of hydrogen-powered freight vehicles in the Middle East. The dissertation delivers four key contributions. First, it assesses the risks associated with transporting liquid hydrogen across a multimodal road–sea–road network. The results indicate that inadequate hydrogen-ready infrastructure at ports and logistics hubs constitutes the primary challenge, while hazards such as flammability, explosion, and cryogenic risks escalate significantly under concurrent failure scenarios. These findings inform corridor-specific safety strategies essential for effective risk mitigation. Second, the study identifies and prioritizes barriers to hydrogen fuel cell vehicle adoption, revealing that technological, economic, and infrastructural barriers are the most critical. By mapping interdependencies among independent, linkage, and dependent barriers, the analysis provides actionable guidance for targeted policy and investment interventions. Third, the environmental and economic feasibility of hydrogen-powered trucks is evaluated against conventional diesel trucks along this 1,200 km corridor. The results demonstrate that blue hydrogen trucks outperform diesel alternatives, achieving up to 3.28 times lower CO2 emissions and up to 23.54% lower transportation costs, with optimal fleet compositions varying by truck type. Finally, multi-model simulations developed in AnyLogic are employed to design and evaluate hydrogen refueling stations under stochastic demand conditions. The findings highlight how demand variability influences stock levels, infrastructure requirements, and refueling performance, offering actionable insights for scalable and resilient infrastructure planning. Collectively, this dissertation covers risk analysis, barrier assessment, techno-economic evaluation, and refueling station design, advancing both theory and practice while supporting the adoption of sustainable, hydrogen-based freight transportation along this corridor.

Date of Award	2026
Original language	American English
Awarding Institution	HBKU College of Science and Engineering