fuelling

Various European countries have partnered to develop and deploy hydrogen-fuelled vehicles for emission-free driving across the continent.

Under the Hydrogen Mobility Europe project (H2ME), 200 fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV), 125 fuel cell range-extended electric (FC RE-EVs) commercial vans and 29 new and hydrogen-refuelling stations (HRS) will be deployed in ten countries by 2019.

Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the UK will be the first to have these vehicles.

Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU) is co-funding the project with €32m.

"A huge international effort over the past two decades has developed hydrogen vehicle technology to the point where it is technically ready for market introduction."

Claimed to be the largest European project of this nature, H2ME is a collaboration between four hydrogen mobility initiatives; H2 Mobility Deutschland, Mobilité Hydrogène France, Scandinavian Hydrogen Highway Partnership and UK H2 Mobility.

The four initiatives, as a first step, focused on studying and developing strategies for hydrogen-fuelled transport in their respective regions by bringing together the stakeholders such as vehicle manufacturers, hydrogen-refuelling station providers and government representatives.

H2ME works in sync with the existing national level initiatives for the roll-out of a large-scale, hydrogen-refuelling infrastructure.

The Element Energy-led consortium includes car manufacturers Daimler, SymbioFCell, Hyundai, Honda, Intelligent Energy and Nissan; infrastructure providers Air Liquide, BOC, H2Logic, ITM Power, Linde, McPhy Energy, OMV, Areva, EIFER, H2 Mobility Deutschland, HYOP, Icelandic New Energy and Communauté d’Agglomération Sarreguemines Confluences; and data monitoring and dissemination organisations Cenex and WaterstofNet.

Having signed the agreements for the project in July, the first vehicles have already been delivered to customers in France and Germany.

Element Energy director and overall coordinator Ben Madden said: "A huge international effort over the past two decades has developed hydrogen vehicle technology to the point where it is technically ready for market introduction."

The H2ME project is expected to enable the stakeholders analyse and evaluate large data to address any remaining obstacles on the way to the introduction of hydrogen-fuelled vehicles into the market.

Image: A hydrogen fuel station in the UK. Photo: courtesy of UK H2 Mobility.