April 22, 2021
America’s second-largest gasoline company, Chevron, and Toyota Motor North America have jointly announced that they will pursue an alliance on hydrogen. Together, they aim at collaborating on hydrogen-related public policy, as well as study market demand for fuel cell vehicles, and research hydrogen-powered transportation and storage. “This is another important step toward building a hydrogen […]
April 09, 2021
A consortium with partners from Belgium, Germany, Spain, and Portugal is testing a bi-modal train prototype, which uses its pantograph on regular electrified lines and a fuel cell and hydrogen to make its own electricity when not available. Brussels-based Toyota Motor Europe will supply the fuel cells. The project, called FCH2RAIL (Fuel Cell Hybrid Power […]
April 08, 2021
Clean, ‘green hydrogen’ made with renewable energy will become cheaper sooner than expected, with costs dropping by 85% to become even cheaper than natural gas by 2050. That is, below $1/kg ($7,4/MMBtu) by 2050, says BloombergNEV (BNEV), the Bloomberg media concern’s energy research branch, after readjusting its energy outlook. The key driver will be the […]
April 02, 2021
American heavy fuel cell truck developer Hyzon is launching its leasing service in the European Union. It’s intended to be a ‘holistic fleet leasing offering’ for the European market that includes the Hyzon FCEV trucks, the hydrogen fuel, insurance, service, and maintenance. Hyzon, which is to build the trucks in the Netherlands, aims to be […]
April 01, 2021
By the end of the year, automotive group Stellantis will have three hydrogen-powered vans in its dealerships. The fuel cell Peugeot Expert, Citroën Jumpy, and Opel Vivaro will be assembled at the Opel’s Russelsheim site in Germany, which has become Stellantis’ competence center for hydrogen. The German government has allocated it a 5,6 million euro […]
April 01, 2021
Belgian retail group Colruyt and international beer giant Anheuser-Busch InBev are joining forces to set up a market for hydrogen-driven road transport, starting with a 44-ton hydrogen truck delivering beer to the distribution center regularly. With the Belgian project, both partners want to set up a ‘dedicated hydrogen lane’ between their distribution hubs with a […]
March 29, 2021
The hydrogen train developed by Alstom will finally be put on the rails in its home country France too, in four pioneering regions by 2023. Twelve to fourteen trains will be delivered through a frame contract with the railway company SNCF to Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, Grand Est and Occitanie. The fuel cell trains are an alternative […]
March 26, 2021
In the wake of the Renaulution plan, CEO Luca de Meo’s sweeping stratagem for a turnaround at the brand, Renault is also uplifting and reviewing its commercial vehicle branch. As part of its energy transition, it is expanding and will focus more on greener technology, even including hydrogen propulsion. Mark Sutcliffe, Senior Vice President LCV […]
March 10, 2021
California-based green energy start-up HyPoint has developed a lightweight fuel cell stack prototype that claims to outperform by far the energy density limits of current lithium-ion batteries that today prevent the breakthrough of zero-emission aviation. HyPoint’s ‘turbo air-cooled’ fuel cell stack would allow five times more flying time and a tenfold operational time increase, at […]
February 24, 2021
The Hopium Māchina, the dream car four-door sedan on hydrogen envisioned by French racing driver Oliver Lombard, is scheduled to be presented as a prototype by June 2021. According to the company that went public on the Paris Stock Exchange last year, the car should hit the road by 2025. The car, called Hopium Māchina, […]
February 23, 2021
After recording a 35,4% sales drop during the first quarter of 2020, French automotive equipment manufacturer Faurecia got back in shape during the second half-year and capped its sales revenue losses to 19,4 % for the whole year as it prepares to cut the cord with PSA, Faurecia bets on hydrogen for future stability. As […]
February 22, 2021
Belgian gas grid manager Fluxys is backing up the promising KU Leuven research in hydrogen panels producing the ‘green gas’ directly from the air using the energy of the sun. On the roof of its labs in Anderlecht, a center of expertise in measuring gas volumes, Fluxys has installed several prototype panels to do extensive […]
February 19, 2021
Energy provider Engie and chemical company Ineos Phenol are experimenting with a hydrogen project in Antwerp’s port. Hydrogen is injected into a gas turbine’s natural gas supply to reduce the CO2 emissions of the operational processes gradually. Both partners join forces because they want further research into the use of hydrogen in industrial systems. Hydrogen […]
February 19, 2021
American fuel cell truck developer Hyzon will deliver in the next five years 1 500 heavy-duty trucks on hydrogen to New Zealand’s Hiringa Energy. The New Zealand hydrogen specialist builds a countrywide network of hydrogen stations and offers the trucks to clients for sale or leasing contracts. Hyzon, a spin-off from Singapore’s Horizon Fuel Cell […]
February 18, 2021
Last year, a ‘record number’ of 107 new hydrogen filling stations was opened throughout the world, bringing the total to 560 according to the 13th Annual assessment of H2stations.org, an information service by the German system technic bureau LBST. The latter keeps an online map and database of the growing hydrogen infrastructure. Of these 107 […]
February 15, 2021
After years of a love-hate relationship, the marriage of convenience between Antwerp and Zeebrugge’s harbors will create Europe’s largest auto-transfer hub in Belgium with nearly 3 million vehicles a year. But when the wedding is finalized this year, it will accomodate the EU’s largest container traffic (157 million tons/year) and be the most important chemical […]
February 12, 2021
The Belgian-Dutch non-profit organization WaterstofNet has seen the number of member companies of its knowledge and industrial collaborative partnership ‘Hydrogen Industry Cluster’ (Waterstof Industrie Cluster or WIC) grow with twelve new members to seventy. Among the latest to join big names like Solvay, Alstom, or John Cockerill. The cluster brings together companies, knowledge centers, and […]
February 11, 2021
The European Commission has approved under the EU Merger Regulation the joint-venture German truck builder Daimler Truck AG and its Swedish competitor Volvo Trucks to develop fuel cell systems (FCS) for heavy-duty vehicles and as a derivate, also stationary power systems on hydrogen. Daimler Truck AG and Volvo Group have signed in November 2020 the […]
February 08, 2021
A consortium of 25 European companies and organizations, called StasHH, has joined forces to define fuel cell module standards for heavy-duty applications, like hydrogen trucks, buses, and ships. The total budget to ‘kickstart’ the adoption of a standard fuel cell is €15 million, of which the EU’s Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking provides half […]
February 05, 2021
Imagine a swappable cartridge with a chemical paste holding sufficient hydrogen to propel your electric scooter, delivering ten times the capacity of a battery. The ‘Powerpaste’ is currently under development at the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials (IFAM) research team in Dresden, Germany. By binding the hydrogen in a practical chemical form, […]
January 29, 2021
America’s biggest car manufacturer, General Motors, is the first to react to the new (green) wind blowing from the White House. GM plans to be carbon neutral in 2040 and produce as few polluting vehicles as possible from 2035 onward. On the first day in office, President Joe Biden already announced stricter emission regulations and […]
January 27, 2021
A study by the Hydrogen Import Coalition (HIC) shows that shipping wind and solar energy from other sunny and windy parts of the world to Belgian ports is ‘feasible and cost-effective’. The idea is to use hydrogen carriers that are fairly easy to transport, like ammonia, methanol, and synthetic methane. There is not enough renewable […]
January 27, 2021
HysetCo, the French asset management company that runs a fleet of more than 100 hydrogen-powered taxis in Paris under the Hype brand has acquired cab operator Slota Group. Toyota Mirai FCEVs will progressively replace Slota’s current fleet of 600 diesel taxis. Two new hydrogen filling stations near Paris will open in 2021, to be extended […]
January 14, 2021
In a joint press release, French petroleum group Total and French energy provider Engie have announced the launch of the Masshylia project for hydrogen production from renewable electricity. A new 40 MW electrolyzer will be built on Total’s biorefinery in La Mède, France. Fed by green electricity from solar panels will produce up to five […]
December 24, 2020
Born out of French racing driver Olivier Lombard’s imagination, Hopium is on its way to build the world’s first high-performance luxury sedan powered by hydrogen. Boasting more than 500 hp and 1 000 km of range, the Hopium Mãchina prototype should be unveiled in June 2021 and enter production five years later. The French racing […]
December 24, 2020
The American e-truck start-up, Nikola, is further sliding down the slope after announcing that the mega-deal for 2 500 battery-electric garbage trucks was abandoned. Nikola would develop these refuse trucks based on the electric Tre for Republic Services, one of America’s biggest waste collection companies, with an option of up to 5 000 units later. […]
December 21, 2020
Toyota Motor Europe (TME) is strengthening its alliance with Portuguese bus builder CaetanoBus in the development, production, and sales of fuel cell-driven city buses. It’s now becoming a shareholder through its existing joint venture Toyota Caetano Portugal (TCAP). TME is stepping into another Portuguese company, too, Finlog. The latter, today a passenger car financial service […]
December 16, 2020
Truck manufacturers Daimler Truck, Volvo Group, and Iveco are teaming up with oil and gas companies Royal Dutch Shell and Austrian OMV to accelerate the rollout of hydrogen trucks in Europe. The ‘common-interest alliance’ is baptized H2Accelerate (H2A). It wants to put hundreds of fuel cell trucks on the road and set up 20 high-capacity […]
December 15, 2020
CEOs of all European truck manufacturers have agreed – under the umbrella of EU car federation ACEA – to have all new trucks sold by 2040 to run fossil-free. They acknowledge that it is the only way to attain the EU’s goal to be carbon-neutral by 2050. It implies making renewable energy cheaper than diesel […]
December 10, 2020
The European Commission has presented its plan for a ‘smart, green, and affordable transport’ of the future on Wednesday. The ‘‘Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy’ is an 82-points plan focusing on ten key areas called ‘flagships’ with targets set for 2030, 2035, and 2050. It confirms the 30 million zero-emission vehicles by 2030, three million […]
December 09, 2020
On Tuesday, German car manufacturing group Daimler announced to sell its Smart production plant in Hambach (north-east of France) to Ineos Automotive, part of the British chemical company Ineos. All staff should be transferred to the new owner, and production of the Grenadier off-roader should start in 2022 alongside the electric two-seater Smart EQ Fortwo […]
December 03, 2020
‘Limburg Hydrogen Society’ a consortium of companies and institutions active in the Belgian province, has the ambition to produce green hydrogen locally and have a filling station operational in Genk by 2023. The goal for participating partners like logistics company H.Essers, Ikea, Lidl, or inter-municipal waste treatment company Limburg.net, among others, is to have their […]
December 01, 2020
American carmaker General Motors is withdrawing from its deal with electric truck start-up Nikola to become a shareholder and co-develop and build the latter’s Badger pickup. As that project was only viable with an established carmaker’s help, Nikola decided to ditch the Badger, for the time being, and refund people that preordered it. GM will […]
December 01, 2020
The second generation of Toyota’s hydrogen car Mirai is very different from its predecessor. As a consequence, the number one Japanese car manufacturer has much higher ambitions for Mirai II. It wants to sell at least ten times more Mirai II models and prepare the field for real hydrogen-based mobility. One of the principal aims […]
November 30, 2020
Flanders has dedicated €125 million of its post-corona €4,3 billion ‘Resilion-plan’ for research and innovation in the field of hydrogen as a green alternative energy. ‘Only’ 125 million, as compared to €9 billion Germany is betting on hydrogen and France’s €7 billion. In the Flemish ‘Hydrogen Vision’ plan, the current government says to see few […]
November 27, 2020
On Thursday, French train manufacturer Alstom announced having signed a contract with the regional Italian rail operator, Ferrovie Nord Milano (FNM), to deliver six hydrogen trains. The manufacturer has converted its Coradia regional train platform to fuel cell technology to become a viable alternative for diesel on non-electrified train lines. Alstom is steaming ahead in […]
November 25, 2020
On a three-day ‘European Conference on Batteries’ hosted this week online by the German EU presidency, it turns out already 500 companies have joined the alliance for ‘an Airbus of Batteries’. The European Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič is confident that “by 2025, the EU will be able to produce enough battery cells to meet the need […]
November 24, 2020
American engine multinational Cummins will set up a new factory in Herten in Germany’s Ruhr Area to assemble fuel cell systems used in the Alstom Coradia iLint hydrogen trains to start with. Yesterday it published a survey about the consumer attitude toward hydrogen-based traveling. Cummins, generally known as a diesel and gas engine expert for […]
November 20, 2020
Toyota indicates that the Mirai Mk2 will be launched on the Japanese market and in the United States at the end of 2020. Whether and when this version will come to Europe could not be confirmed by the Belgian importer. Japanese market takes the lead After a career of six years, Toyota replaces its first […]
November 20, 2020
The city of Antwerp is going to deploy two ‘zero-emission’ garbage trucks on hydrogen as part of the European REVIVE project. Revive stands for ‘Refuse Vehicle Innovation and Validation in Europe’, a four-year project that started in 2018 to test 15 fuel cell refuse trucks in several cities in Europe and promote hydrogen as an […]
November 19, 2020
Today’s modern trucks can almost all drive on renewable ‘blue’ (HVO) diesel made from waste vegetable oils without modifying the diesel engine. When used purely (HVO100), instead of mixing with fossil diesel and made from the right feedstock, it can reduce CO2 emissions by 89%, fine particles by 30%, and NOx by 9%, the industry […]
October 30, 2020
French automotive supplier Plastic Omnium has courted German spare parts manufacturer ElringKlinger to jointly develop fuel cells. The fruit of that courtship – a newly setup joint-venture – is called EKPO, with 60% held by ElringKlinger and 40% by Plastic Omnium. The German familiy-owned group employing some 10 000 people is a supplier to almost […]
October 26, 2020
German-French carmaker Opel is going to equip its ‘lounge on wheels’, the Zafira Life, with a fuel cell (again). The technical details are not communicated yet. According to newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the development has reached a stage road testing can start next year. In that interview with the newspaper, Opel’s boss, Michael Lohscheller, confirmed […]
October 22, 2020
In the harbor of Ghent, the North-C-Methanol project is to become the world’s first in CO2 capturing on such a large scale and use it to create in a sustainable way methanol for the chemical industry and as an alternative fuel. By 2024, some 46 000 tons of methanol should be produced using ‘green’ hydrogen […]
October 15, 2020
Shell has opened this week its first hydrogen refueling station (HRS) in its home country, along the A4 highway between The Hague and Amsterdam, near Hoofddorp. That brings the total number of public ‘private’ hydrogen stations in the Netherlands to five. But this should change rapidly as the government facilitates financing for twenty more. By […]
October 12, 2020
In Sweden, a housing corporation will soon finish 44 self-supporting apartments. Residents will we totally independent of the network for water, electricity, and heat. “We will show the world that all available ecologic methods can manage it all.” “We’ve searched for existing solutions,” explains Pär Löfstedt of architecture and design bureau Yellon. “Otherwise, it would […]
October 07, 2020
The French automotive supplier, Faurecia, has opened on Tuesday in Bavans, Doubs (France), its ‘world R&D center’ to develop hydrogen storage systems for cars and trucks. CEO Patrick Koller announced that the company would build a new factory to mass-produce these tanks in Etupes by 2023. The new center, an investment of €25 million, is […]
October 07, 2020
On this Wednesday, the seven first Hyundai XCIENT Fuel Cell trucks of a fleet of fifty have hit the road in Switzerland. The trucks are rented on a pay-per-use base, offering a flat fee per kilometer, including all expenses and the hydrogen needed for seven Swiss distribution companies, among which Coop and Migros. Hyundai is […]
