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H2 Accelerate: 150 hydrogen trucks and eight fueling stations

The cooperation reports funding of 30 million euros for the deployment of 150 hydrogen trucks and eight hydrogen refueling stations. In the first phase, they plan to use 4x2 or 6x2 trucks with a capacity of up to 44 tons.

Gas stations and trucks - the promotion is intended to get the hydrogen business moving. (Stock image: Iveco)
Gas stations and trucks - the promotion is intended to get the hydrogen business moving. (Stock image: Iveco)
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von Nadine Bradl

The H2Accelerate cooperation confirmed today, March 14, 2023, that its members have secured funding for two of their most important initiatives: the establishment of eight hydrogen refueling stations for heavy-duty vehicles under the Connecting Europe Facility and a project with 150 fuel cell trucks funded by the Clean Hydrogen Partnership. These projects aim to allow trucks and refueling facilities to be tested under real conditions and are intended to be a crucial step towards the mass marketing of the technology.

This is H2 Accelerate Trucks

The H2 Accelerate Trucks project is a collaboration between the three OEMs (Daimler Truck, Volvo Group, and Iveco Group), the Finnish research institute VTT, the International Road Transport Union (IRU), the Romanian Road Transporters Association (UNTRR), the Italian Federation of Professional Road Haulers (FIAP), the Austrian Association (WKO), and Element Energy France (a company of the ERM Group). The project is coordinated by SINTEF, a Norwegian research institute for hydrogen technologies. Additionally, energy infrastructure providers like Shell, Total Energies, and Everfuel are supporting the H2Accelerate Trucks project.

At least 600 kilometers range

As part of this project, the deployment of 150 fuel cell trucks across Europe by the middle to the end of the 2020s is being promoted, which is expected to advance the development of the technology towards mass production of the vehicles by the three OEMs in the second half of the decade. The trucks to be deployed in the first phase are expected to be either 4x2 or 6x2, with a capacity of up to 44 tons and a range of at least 600 kilometers.

 

30 Million Euro Funding

The funding of 30 million euros granted by the Clean Hydrogen Partnership is intended to enable the coordinated introduction of zero-emission heavy-duty vehicles powered by green hydrogen, thereby bringing the goal of zero emissions in transportation closer. The trucks will be deployed with well-known customers of the OEMs and will be tested under real-world conditions over several years to demonstrate and evaluate their technical and economic performance. The results of the project will serve as the foundation for the large-scale deployment of fuel cell vehicles in the coming years.

Bart Biebuyck, Executive Director of the Clean Hydrogen Partnership, said of this announcement: “We are pleased to financially support the H2 Accelerate Trucks project, a flagship initiative that will pave the way for the commercialization of the European hydrogen truck system. It is particularly gratifying that the 150 vehicles being deployed in this project will be supported by a growing network of hydrogen refueling stations, including the H2 Accelerate Inaugural Station Deployment project, which has been selected for EU funding. Through both projects, we can learn firsthand how different funding programs can work together to accelerate the realization of a hydrogen truck ecosystem in Europe.”

Giandomenico Fioretti, Head of Alternative Propulsion Business Development at the Iveco Truck Business Unit, said about the H2Accelerate Trucks project: “The Iveco Group has always been among the first to break new ground, as we have been pioneers in the field of alternative propulsion for more than twenty years. Hydrogen is an exciting energy vector for the sustainable future of heavy-duty vehicles because this technology offers the best compromise between range, payload, and refueling time. Today, we are proud of the work we will do together with our partners as part of the groundbreaking H2 Accelerate Trucks project, and with the support of the Clean Hydrogen Partnership, to pave the way for the technical and commercial feasibility of hydrogen trucks for long-haul transportation.”

Provisional Network of Eight Hydrogen Stations

The H2 Accelerate Inaugural Station Deployment (ISD) project benefits from the success of the H2 Accelerate Trucks project. As announced in September, this project was successful in the tender for Connecting Europe Facility funding for alternative fuels to support the establishment of eight hydrogen stations in France and the Netherlands. Each station will have a higher capacity (>1 ton/day) than the currently operating public stations and will ensure an extremely high level of availability by using N+1 redundancy in the station design (key equipment will be duplicated in the station's planning to minimize downtime in case of component failure). The stations will be established along major TEN-T transport corridors, making them easily accessible for truck drivers near the highway.

More Fuel Stations Planned

The H2Accelerate-ISD project is the first in a series of additional planned hydrogen fuel stations as part of the first phase of the H2Accelerate cooperation. The H2Accelerate infrastructure members intend to complement this initial network with additional stations along strategic nodes between Scandinavia and Northern Italy. The stations will supply the growing fleet of hydrogen-powered heavy-duty vehicles, including those deployed under the H2 Accelerate-Trucks project.

The Road is Clear for Hydrogen Trucks?

The approval of these projects by the Clean Hydrogen Partnership and the Connecting Europe Facility demonstrates the high maturity of the plans and the strategic importance of developing the hydrogen truck sector in Europe. It is expected that these grants will enable the synchronous rollout of both heavy-duty vehicles and refueling infrastructures, thereby eliminating barriers that typically arise during the initial phases of complex projects. The growing network of funded projects aims to advance the hydrogen value chain.

Collaboration within H2 Accelerate will allow the alignment of technology, geographic location, and timing of fuel cell vehicles and hydrogen refueling infrastructures, ensuring supply security for end customers and reducing the investment risks required by OEMs and infrastructure providers alike. This will enable the development of relevant technologies and standards and pave the way for a broader adoption of hydrogen trucks across Europe and the eventual industrialization of the hydrogen truck sector.

Translated automatically from German.
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