ATA & NATROAD submission to parliamentary inquiry into EV transition, page-8

Hydrogen is not competitive for heavy vehicles in any way cost-wise, but neither are batteries right now. They will both require subsidies for a widespread technology transition to occur. It remains an open question which technology will ultimately become more dominant, but I were a betting man I would put my money on battery EVs, because trucks can piggy-back somewhat on existing organic demands for EV infrastructure for cars.

Hydrogen supply chains are extremely sensitive - the gas is of course highly flammable, and leaks constantly because of its tiny molecular size. The pressures involved are immense, or intense refrigeration is necessary to keep it in liquid form. You can't park a hydrogen car in an underground garage without specialised ventilation, because it will gradually discharge its whole tank into the surrounds. So I think it's unlikely there will ever be consumer demand for hydrogen cars.

Hydrogen trucks are still possible, because these problems are manageable at industrial scale. But again, heavy trucks on our roads today can largely share fuel supplies and filling points with cars, it would be a costly enterprise to build out and maintain three separate systems (petrol, electric, hydrogen) in a large, sparse country like Australia.