Driving hydrogen fuel cell vehicles to market

An EU-funded project, with the support of the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint undertaking (FCH JU), has installed hydrogen filling stations, tested prototype fuel cell vehicles and brought together car makers and infrastructure providers to push forward the commercial viability of this zero-emissions technology. Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, which manufacturers aim to make commercially available from 2018, offer zero-emissions transport and function much like an electric vehicle. However, fuel cell vehicles mu
July 19, 2017 Read time: 3 mins
An EU-funded project, with the support of the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint undertaking (FCH JU), has installed hydrogen filling stations, tested prototype fuel cell vehicles and brought together car makers and infrastructure providers to push forward the commercial viability of this zero-emissions technology.


Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, which manufacturers aim to make commercially available from 2018, offer zero-emissions transport and function much like an electric vehicle. However, fuel cell vehicles must be refuelled, which takes approximately three minutes, so having the necessary refuelling infrastructure in place is crucial to ensure that the technology is commercially viable and attractive.

“Infrastructure providers are nervous about demand for their stations and need assurance from vehicle manufacturers,” explains HYFIVE project coordinator Simona Webb from the Greater London Authority, UK. “Car manufacturers, on the other hand, need to know their vehicles will have a reliable and accessible network of stations to serve their customers. This is why the EU-funded HYFIVE project makes perfect sense; it brings both parties together addressing any teething issues now before commercialisation.”

The project has already made 185 hydrogen vehicles operational, along with six hydrogen refuelling stations. In addition, five global automotive companies leading the drive towards commercialisation, 1731 BMW, 2069 Daimler, 1683 Honda, 1684 Hyundai and 1686 Toyota, have deployed their latest fuel cell vehicle innovations.

The project is focusing on three regions: the UK’s London region; the Copenhagen region in Denmark; and a southern European region comprising parts of Germany, Austria and northern Italy. “There are a lot of hydrogen fuel cell technology developments in these regions with infrastructure already in place,” explains Webb. “Data gathered from all HYFIVE stations will be used to address any technical or logistical issues, and to better understand the impact of operating a refuelling station network managed by different suppliers.”

The project is also working with manufacturers to demonstrate that fuel cell vehicles meet and exceed technical and environmental expectations. Toyota has already deployed its vehicles to commercial customers outside of HYFIVE, and in London, one of Toyota’s fuel cell vehicles operates part of a commercial private taxi fleet.

It also plans to establish best practice in new equipment maintenance procedures, along with guidelines for training those working within dealerships and the spare parts supply chain, which it says are essential if the technology is to be commercially viable.

Urban Traffic Control

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Key Russian PPP project
    April 18, 2012
    The Northern Capital Highway (NCH) consortium has been named the preferred bidder in the tender for the central section of St Petersburg’s Western High-Speed Diameter (WHSD) project. Should NCH win the tender process it will build and then operate the entire stretch of the toll road. The consortium comprises VTB Capital and Gazprombank from Russia in partnership with Italian company Astaldi and Turkish firm Ictas Insaat.
    Read More
  • T&E welcomes rules to enable smarter road tolls in Europe
    February 2, 2015
    Sustainable transport group Transport & Environment has welcomed the announcement by Violeta Bulc, the EU’s head of transport, of plans to develop a Europe-wide scheme to charge lorries and cars for using roads. Bulc stressed that the scheme would be optional, meaning that countries could opt out if they want to. She also emphasised that the fee should be based exclusively on the distance driven and should not be time-dependent, which would bolster more efficient use of roads. European countries curre
    Read More
  • Need for harmonisation in ITS standards
    February 1, 2012
    As the calendar rolls over, and we hop from continent to continent and World Congress to World Congress, where Memoranda of Understanding and cooperation agreements are the headline news, it is easy for those not intimately involved to forget that standards definition is a well-nigh continual process. Significant progress has been made in recent months towards achieving the critical mass and economies of scale which are going to drive development and deployment in, amongst other things, cooperative infrastr
    Read More
  • Huge global OEM connected car system shipments predicted
    May 2, 2012
    OEM connected car system shipments are expected to grow from 8.22 million in 2012 to 39.5 million in 2016. While the United States and Western Europe remain the leading regions, car OEMs such as GM, Toyota, Nissan, Hyundai, and Mercedes Benz increasingly look to China as the next major expansion area for launching connected car solutions in order to maintain or enhance their competitive position in this fledgling market.
    Read More

Highlighted Content