Breakdown assistance without emissions: Germany's first hydrogen tow truck goes to work in Cologne
Breakdown assistance means long days and unpredictable journeys. Which is exactly why Germany's first hydrogen tow truck has been operating in the Cologne region since June. Motoring club ACV, the country's third largest, put the vehicle on the road together with several partners.
"We want to show that breakdown and accident assistance can be emission-free," is the ACV's message. According to the club, German breakdown services together emit more than 50,000 tonnes of CO2 a year — a corner of the market that has drawn little attention so far.
What is under the bodywork
The vehicle is a PH2P Truck from Paul Nutzfahrzeuge, built on a Mercedes Atego 4x2 chassis. Wellmeyer Fahrzeugbau supplied the recovery body.
- An 85-kilowatt fuel cell combined with a 133 kWh battery.
- A 200-kilowatt electric motor with 3,100 newton metres of continuous torque.
- Six tanks at 350 bar holding 30 kilos of hydrogen in total.
- A range of around 450 kilometres, with refuelling in ten to fifteen minutes.
- A hydraulic sliding platform with a 4-tonne payload; up to 24 tonnes with a trailer.
Why hydrogen suits this job
On a busy day a tow truck covers up to 400 kilometres, spread across call-outs you cannot plan in advance. The combination of a generous range and a quarter-hour refuel fits that pattern well: the vehicle stays available for the whole shift.
Weight matters too. The lighter the vehicle itself, the less energy it takes to get moving — and the more capacity is left for the car on the loading deck.
Partners and monitoring
Day-to-day operation is handled by a Cologne breakdown service, KAD Kolner Abschleppdienst. H2 MOBILITY supplies the hydrogen; the station network in the Cologne-Dusseldorf area is sufficient for this pilot. The Institute of Automotive Engineering at TH Koln is monitoring the project scientifically and measuring how the vehicle compares with a diesel equivalent in practice.
Why this is interesting
Breakdown assistance is exactly the kind of work that greening plans tend to skip: small fleets, unpredictable deployment, permanent readiness. A vehicle that can run that service with zero emissions is concrete proof that these niches are now in scope as well.
We are curious about the results from TH Koln. If the figures show availability on a par with a diesel tow truck, that is a strong argument for recovery and emergency services elsewhere in Europe.
Sources
- H2-news.de, Wasserstoff-Abschleppwagen ubernimmt Pannenhilfe im Kolner Raum
- ACV, Wasserstoff-Abschleppwagen: Deutschlands erstes H2-Abschleppfahrzeug
- ACV press release, Klimafair unterwegs: ACV bringt 2026 Deutschlands ersten Wasserstoff-Abschleppwagen auf die Strasse
- Automobil Industrie, Erster Pannen-Lkw mit Wasserstoff-Antrieb
- Autoflotte, Wasserstoff-Pilotprojekt: Emissionsfrei Abschleppen
