H2Accelerate to fund 150 hydrogen trucks

The H2Accelerate collaboration will fund 150 hydrogen trucks and eight refuelling facilities for fleet operators across Europe.

Funding granted by the Clean Hydrogen Partnership of €30m (£26m), will enable hydrogen trucks and refuelling equipment to be tested under real-world conditions.

The project is a collaboration between Daimler Truck, Volvo Group, Iveco Group, Finnish research institution VTT, International Road  Transport Union (IRU), Romanian National Union of Road Transporters (UNTRR), Italian (Federazione  Italiana Autotrasportatori Professionali - FIAP), Austrian (WKÖ) associations, and Element Energy France.

It will be coordinated by SINTEF, Norway’s leading research institute  on hydrogen technologies. H2Accelerate Trucks is also supported by energy infrastructure providers,  including Shell, TotalEnergies, and Everfuel.

Bart Biebuyck, executive director of the Clean Hydrogen Partnership, said: “We are delighted to provide funding support to the H2Accelerate Trucks project, a flagship project  which will pave the way for the commercialisation of Europe’s hydrogen trucking system.

“It is especially auspicious that these 150 vehicles deployed within this project will be supported by an expanding  network of hydrogen refuelling stations, which will include the H2Accelerate Inaugural Station  Deployment project that has been selected to receive EU funding support. Through both projects, we can  witness first-hand how different funding programmes can work together to accelerate the realisation of  a hydrogen trucking ecosystem in Europe.” 

The trucks to be deployed in the first stage are expected to be either 4x2 or 6x2, with up to 44 tonne capacity and long ranges of at least 372 miles.