Seventeen partners want to turn the so-called Rhine-Alps corridor stretching from Rotterdam to Genoa into a purely hydrogen-based transport route – by water, road and rail. The RH₂INE project stands for ‘Rhine Hydrogen Integration Network of Excellence’.

Faurecia has just received a major order from Hyundai for hydrogen storage systems for fuel cell vehicles. The French company will supply the entire system including 10,000 tanks for the 1,600 H2 trucks that Hyundai plans to launch on the Swiss market.

Toyota has equipped the ship ‘Energy Observer’ with a new fuel cell drive. The electric catamaran will start on the next leg of its world tour in mid-February and claims to be “the first energy-autonomous hydrogen boat”.

Orange County has unveiled a new bus fleet of 10 fuel cell-electric buses in Santa Ana. Besides the buses’ arrivals, the county also now boasts the largest hydrogen fueling station in the nation for public transportation.

The city of Auxerre has commissioned the French manufacturer Safra to deliver five fuel cell buses by the end of this year. To be precise, these are hybrid buses that combine a 30-kW Symbio fuel cell system with a 30-kilo hydrogen tank and a 132-kWh battery pack.

The electric vehicle retrofitter eCap Mobility and the microlight aircraft manufacturer Breezer Aircraft want to develop a fuel cell drive that can be retrofitted to single-engine aircraft. However, the focus is more on single-seat sports aircraft than on the electrification of commercial planes.

At the Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht (HZG) in Germany, materials researchers are developing hydrogen storage systems based on light metal hydrides. Now they have published a new concept with which these hydrogen storage systems could be refilled five times faster at a working temperature below 180 degrees.

BMW intends to introduce the second-generation fuel cell technology developed together with Toyota in the BMW X6 and X7. Head of Development Klaus Fröhlich made the announcement in an interview.

Japan’s Kawasaki Heavy Industries has launched the world’s first liquefied hydrogen carrier at its Kobe Works yard. The hybrid electric-diesel carrier ship should transport hydrogen 9000 km from Australia to Japan.

The first hydrogen-powered Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system has gone live in Pau, in the south of France. It is called Fébus and launched with the roll-out of a fleet of eight 18m Van Hool Exqui-City FC buses, serving a special six km route.

The British AFC Energy has developed a modular, hydrogen-powered charging station for electric vehicles. The off-grid system is self-contained and designed to cover areas with poor grid coverage with rapid charging “anywhere it is needed”.

The merger of the fuel cell businesses of Michelin and Faurecia announced in March, has now been completed. The two French companies hold equal shares in the formally established joint venture “Symbio, A Faurecia Michelin Hydrogen Company”.

German and European car manufacturers are currently fully committed to the battery and still very hesitant regarding the fuel cell. Toyota is doing it the other way around. Hyundai wants to develop both technologies in parallel. A closer look at what the Koreans have in mind.

The German Federal Ministry of Transport and H2 Mobility have signed a declaration of intent to further expand the hydrogen infrastructure in Germany. It follows on from the first phase of expansion, which is to be completed by mid-2020 with 100 hydrogen filling stations.

Hyundai has made three strategic investments in hydrogen and fuel cell technologies. Specifically, the Korean manufacturer is investing in Impact Coatings, H2Pro and GRZ Technologies.

Three UK-based zero-carbon automotive projects have secured Government funding via the Advanced Propulsion Centre. The combined award of £25.4m was provided by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and delivered by Innovate UK.

The Federal Ministry of Transport is supporting hydrogen mobility with a further 23.5 million euros as part of the National Innovation Programme Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology (NIP).

The Chinese government wants to end state subsidies for fuel cell vehicles by the end of next year, according to the Ministry of Finance.

The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association, Hydrogen Europe and the International Road Transport Union are jointly calling on European policymakers to ramp up investments in EU-wide hydrogen refuelling infrastructure for fuel cell vehicles.

By 2025, Hyundai intends to bring a total of 1,600 fuel cell trucks onto the Swiss market and has just released details. The first 50 Hyundai H2 XCIENT will be delivered to Switzerland next year. 

As Auckland Transport continues to accelerate the Low Emissions Bus Roadmap, the public transport provider has ordered two ‘extra-large’ electric buses from Chinese giants Yutong and six BYD electric buses, as well as the city’s first fuel cell bus that will – also a first – be made in New Zealand.

US startup Nikola, specialising in fuel cell and battery trucks, has announced that German companies Bosch and Hanwha have invested a total of 230 million dollars with at least 100 million dollars each.

The Chinese government is aiming to get a million fuel cell vehicles on the roads by 2030 and is backing up this ambition with massive subsidies – at least in some parts of the country.

The industrial gases group Linde has acquired a ten per cent stake in Hydrospider AG. Hydrospider specialises in generating “green” hydrogen by using power from a hydroelectricity station in Switzerland.

Hydrogenious LOHC Technologies, MAN Energy Solutions and the Frames Group are to jointly develop and build large hydrogen storage systems based on LOHC (Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carrier) technology.

Alpiq and H2 Energy (H2E) are planning Switzerland’s first plant for the production of hydrogen in commercial operation. From the end of 2019, hydrogen for the first 50 of a total of 1,600 fuel cell trucks will be produced at the Gösgen hydroelectric power station using hydroelectric power.

The H2SHIPS project aims to demonstrate the technical and economic feasibility of hydrogen refuelling systems and propulsion systems in shipping and to identify the conditions for a successful market entry of hydrogen technology.

Two years ago, the Siemens plant in Görlitz, Germany, was on the verge of collapse. Now Siemens, the State of Saxony and the Fraunhofer Institute have signed a declaration of intent to strengthen the site in the long term and support structural change in the region.

The problem that led to an explosion at a hydrogen filling station on 10 June near Oslo was an incorrectly mounted plug in a hydrogen tank in a high-pressure storage tank. Manufacturer Nel made the inquiry public and is establishing precautions.

The US engine manufacturer Cummins has taken over the Canadian fuel cell manufacturer Hydrogenics Corporation. However, Air Liquide will remain on board as an investor in Hydrogenics.