The EDAG Group has started a joint research project with Hexagon Purus to develop a hybrid system of hydrogen and battery storage for integration into car floors. The customer should then be able to configure the number of storage units individually.

ZeroAvia, which specialises in electric aircraft propulsion systems, has now completed the maiden flight of a six-seater battery-electric aircraft at Cranfield Airport as part of the HyFlyer project supported by the British government.

The commercial vehicle retrofitter Quantron has announced the Energon, a 44-tonne fuel cell truck with a range of around 700 kilometres. The vehicle can be ordered immediately, and deliveries are to start next year.

In the UK, Yorkshire Water utility has put a hydrogen-powered water truck in operation. The hydrogen vehicle is the first in the Yorkshire Water fleet, and part of a 10-year plan to decarbonise their fleet.

The US manufacturer Nikola, best known for its plans for fuel cell and battery trucks, has placed an order worth over 30 million dollars with the Norwegian hydrogen specialist Nel for the supply of electrolysers.

In an economic stimulus package following the Corona crisis, the German government has included several measures to promote electric mobility. The most powerful one is that the state is doubling its share of the environmental bonus in the form of a new “innovation premium”.

An update was published on the progress of the German ‘AutoStack Industrie’ project launched in 2017. The project will run until the end of 2021, involving five OEMs and various suppliers working together to bring key technologies for the production of stacks for fuel cell vehicles to industrial maturity.

Optare, the English subsidiary of India’s commercial vehicle manufacturer Ashok Leyland, is launching a fuel cell double-decker bus in cooperation with Arcola Energy. The first Optare Metrodecker H2 buses are already scheduled to go into service in 2021.

ABB has signed an MoU with Hydrogène de France (HDF) to jointly manufacture megawatt fuel cell systems for powering shipping vessels. The two partners want to optimise the production of large systems in order to be able to build fuel cell power plants in the megawatt range for ships.

The Fortescue Metals Group and ATCO Australia signed an agreement to explore the potential of fuel cell vehicle filling infrastructure in Western Australia. They will build and operate a hydrogen station in the Perth area, fueling a showcase fleet of Toyota Mirai.

The Horizon Fuel Cell Group has launched Hyzon Motors, a hydrogen vehicle company focused on heavy-duty FCEVs and specifically fuel cell stacks exceeding 100kW. Hyzon’s vehicle line due to launch this year is to include trucks from 15-40 tonnes.

A total of 83 hydrogen filling stations went into operation worldwide in 2019, 36 of them in Europe, 38 in Asia, 8 in North America and one in the Arabic peninsula. In Germany 22 filling stations were added.

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.