Several studies have already examined the conversion from diesel to FC trucks: The “Mobility and Fuel Strategy of the Federal Government” [
9] examined the research and development needs of FC trucks. The study carried out a market and technology analysis for Germany. The aim of the model is to test the potential market uptake of alternative drive systems. General conditions such as vehicle class, type of drive, infrastructure, traffic volume and general data such as development of freight traffic or energy scenarios are considered. The model depicts the purchasing decisions of truck operators, taking into account different types of truck usage. The study calculates total cost of ownership (TCO) and well-to-wheel (WTW) emissions for each truck class and drive type. Other studies that consider FCEV for a future market uptake are [
14‐
17]. Yazdanie et al. analyze the WTW emissions and primary energy demand of ICEVs, BEVs, hybrid electric vehicles (HEV), plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) and FCEVs of passenger cars considering fossil energy and renewable energy sources [
18]. They determine the consumption values per km for the different types of drive, and the emissions and energy requirements of the different vehicle types. Lombardi et al. present a performance comparison and the ecological effects of four truck classes and the types BEV, ICEV, PHEV and Plug-in FCEV [
19]. They use a rule-based and optimized consumption model based on the pontryagin minimum principle. Using two different synthetic drive cycles they calculate the WTW GHG emissions and the WTW primary energy demand using the consumption values. Transport and distribution are taken into account in the WTW path. Lee et al. compare the primary energy consumption and WTW emissions of FCEV and ICEV trucks [
20]. A high-resolution longitudinal dynamics model and real vehicle measurements generate the necessary data. For hydrogen production, they consider steam reforming with natural gas and hydrogen as fuel in liquid and gaseous form. Further studies that investigate different hydrogen production paths are [
21‐
26]. Daneberg investigates the potentials of FC trucks, their TCO,, hydrogen costs, and the infrastructure required for the Oslo-Trondheim route [
27]. The author uses a case study to determine the economically most suitable case depending on hydrogen costs and fleet size. Hall and Lutsey deal with the TCO for zero-emission trucks for the Los Angeles area, California [
28]. They investigate the costs and number of hydrogen filling stations for low, medium and high fleet compositions for long-haul tractor-trailers, port drayage, and local delivery trucks. Further studies that investigate the costs of FCEVs are [
29‐
33]. The summary of the current state of research shows that the topic of fuel cell drive has already been investigated in market ramp-up models [
9,
14‐
17], the conversion of car traffic to alternative drive systems [
18], the environmental impact of individual vehicles and production paths [
19‐
26,
34], and infrastructure and operating costs of trucks [
27,
28]. However, there is no study that examines the effects of a complete conversion of the entire urban logistics sector to FC trucks. Changes in costs, emissions, and primary energy demand are still pending, especially taking into account the influence of current and future hydrogen production and system prices. Furthermore, to the best of our knowledge, prototype FC trucks have not been used as reference vehicles so far. Martins-Turner et al. use the transport simulation MATSim to investigate the usability of BEVs in comparison to ICEVs for urban freight transport using the food retailing logistics in Berlin as a case study [
35]. Changes in transport costs, WTW emissions and primary energy demand of ICEVs and BEVs are computed and compared. Since no such study for FCEVs exits so far, the following research question arises: Can FCEVs outperform BEVs in terms of TCO, WTW emissions and primary energy demand when considering a complete decarbonization of urban freight transport?