IAA Commercial Vehicles: MAN honoured with Truck Innovation Award 2025

The hydrogen combustion truck MAN hTGX has won the Truck Innovation Award 2025. Dr Frederik Zohm, Executive Board member for Research & Development at MAN Truck & Bus, accepted the prestigious award during the press day. Commercial vehicle manufacturer MAN Truck & Bus will be the first European truck producer to set up a small series with hydrogen combustion.

"We are particularly pleased to receive the IToY jury's award. With the hydrogen combustion truck MAN hTGX, we are offering a useful addition to our battery-electric vehicles, thus rounding off our zero-emission product portfolio for special markets and heavy-duty applications. By being classified as a ‘zero-emission vehicle’, the hTGX makes an important contribution to the decarbonisation of road freight transport,’ explains Dr Frederik Zohm, Executive Board member for Research & Development at MAN Truck & Bus.

This is the third time that MAN Truck & Bus has won the Truck Innovation Award. As recently as 2024, the commercial vehicle manufacturer received the award for its research and development projects in the field of autonomous driving for the ANITA and ATLAS-L4 projects. In 2019, the automated construction site protection vehicle AFAS won the coveted industry prize in its very first year.

During a road test in Saalfelden, Austria, the IToY journalists praised the diesel-like performance and handling of the MAN hTGX, which is achieved by the MAN 16.8-litre H4576 six-cylinder in-line hydrogen engine. The jury praised the heavy-duty truck's almost zero balance, the range of around 600 kilometres, which is made possible by the 56-kilo hydrogen pressure tank with a capacity of 700 bar, and the simplified exhaust gas aftertreatment system.

The small series, initially planned with around 200 units, is to be delivered to customers in Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Iceland and selected nonEuropean countries as early as 2025. The MAN hTGX offers an alternative zero-emission drive variant for special applications, for example for the transport of heavy goods – such as in construction, tank transport or timber transport. The hTGX can also be an alternative to battery-electric trucks for use in areas without adequate charging infrastructure or for markets where sufficient hydrogen is already available.

The MAN hTGX will be available in 6x2 and 6x4 axle configurations, enabling a high payload and maximum ranges of up to 600 kilometres. The hydrogen combustion engine H45 is based on the proven D38 diesel unit and will be produced in the engine and battery plant in Nuremberg.