Teva puts first hydrogen truck to work on pharma runs: up to 2,000 km per week from Ulm

Pharmaceutical company Teva, known in Germany above all for its ratiopharm brand, has put its first hydrogen truck into service delivering medicines across southern Germany. The fuel-cell truck runs from Ulm and covers up to 2,000 kilometres per week.

From regional runs to long hauls

The truck, an IVECO S-eWay Fuel Cell tractor unit, handles both short regional runs around Ulm and longer routes to Nuremberg, Munich, Stuttgart, Heidelberg and Bamberg. In Germany, Teva runs its distribution with a fleet of more than eighty trucks and trailers, together delivering some 450,000 pallets of pharmaceuticals per year. The hydrogen truck is a concrete step towards making that daily transport emission-free.

In pharma logistics, everything hinges on reliability, flexibility and range. On exactly those points, the deployment at Teva shows that hydrogen trucks can already meet the requirements, according to both Teva and rental operator hylane.

Renting per kilometre

The business model stands out. The truck comes from hylane, Germany's largest hydrogen truck rental operator, via a pay-per-kilometre model. This bundles the vehicle, driver training, registration, maintenance, insurance, tyres and vehicle return into a single per-kilometre rate. The customer pays only for the kilometres driven and the hydrogen consumed, with no major upfront investment.

That significantly lowers the barrier to switching to emission-free transport. hylane, backed by Cologne-based insurer DEVK, now counts Hermes, DB Schenker, REWE, GLS and DHL among its customers. The company recently expanded with battery-electric trucks, showing that different zero-emission technologies each find their place in the fleet.

The technology

The IVECO S-eWay Fuel Cell has a range of up to 800 kilometres and refuels in under twenty minutes, comparable to a diesel stop. The hydrogen tanks hold up to 70 kilograms at 700 bar and feed a fuel cell system of over 200 kW. Total system output is 400 kW, at a gross vehicle weight of 44 tonnes. The truck comes from a small series produced in Ulm, which also demonstrates the practicality of hydrogen transport in the European H2Haul project.

The truck runs predominantly on RFNBO-certified green hydrogen, made from renewable energy under the European directive. Germany's RFNBO mandate, which came into force in 2026, requires part of transport energy to come from certified renewable fuels.

The maths keeps improving

For hauliers with high weekly mileage, the business case grows more attractive. In Germany, hydrogen trucks are exempt from the distance-based road toll (LKW-Maut), an exemption running until June 2031. That saving considerably narrows the cost gap with diesel.

On top of that, since January 2026 hylane has secured a hydrogen price of around €8 per kilogram at selected stations on the H2 Mobility network. On long-haul routes, the company says this delivers total cost of ownership on par with diesel.

Teva had already taken earlier steps: in 2023 it added its first battery-electric truck, charged with solar power from its own roof in Ulm. The hydrogen truck now extends that approach to routes where range and fast refuelling are decisive.

Sources:

• Hymotive – Teva puts first hydrogen truck to work on 2,000 km weekly pharma runs (July 2026)

• Fuel Cells Works – Teva deploys hydrogen truck for pharmaceutical logistics in Germany (June 2026)

• Logistik Heute – Pharmalogistik: Teva setzt auf Wasserstoff-Lkw von Hylane (June 2026)

• Solarserver / Transport-online / LOGISTRA – reporting on the Teva/hylane deployment (June 2026)

• IVECO – hylane receives three S-eWay Fuel Cell tractor units (H2Haul project, 2025)