Toward net-zero semiconductor supply chains in Taiwan: A techno-economic study of hydrogen trucks

This study evaluates the techno-economic feasibility of heavy-duty fuel cell vehicles (HD-FCVs) for long-haul and short-haul semiconductor logistics in Taiwan under 2025, 2030, and 2035 scenarios. Vehicle energy consumption was simulated with Argonne National Laboratory's AMBER/Autonomie framework, and financial performance was assessed using NPV, IRR, return on investment, payback period, and sensitivity analysis. High hydrogen and vehicle costs result in negative NPVs for both routes in 2025. The long-haul scenario becomes feasible by 2030 (NPV 248.5 k USD; IRR 24.8%) and improves further by 2035 (NPV 446.6 k USD; IRR 36.7%), whereas short-haul operations remain near breakeven in 2030 and become marginally viable only in 2035. Freight rate, hydrogen price, and fuel efficiency are the most influential parameters. Vehicle subsidies improve financial performance, whereas carbon pricing at the examined levels provides only a limited benefit. A scenario-based multi-criteria evaluation ranks the 2035 long-haul alternative first under all weighting structures. The results are limited to a stand-alone vehicle investment on selected routes and do not represent company-wide Scope 3 decarbonization.