One of the world’s most bullish advocates for hydrogen, Fortescue Metals Group, now believes batteries will beat hydrogen in the race to provide clean power to mining trucks. Australia’s biggest iron ore miner, Rio Tinto, agrees.

Carbon free “green” hydrogen has been touted for several years as the most likely way to wean trucks and locomotives off carbon intensive fuels such as diesel because the batteries needed to power such heavy vehicles were thought be too large to make economic sense.