Hydrogen mobility planned across Europe

Renault Group and Plug Power have launched HYVIA, the joint venture providing fuel cell light commercial vehicles (LCVs), green hydrogen, and hydrogen refuelling stations.

HYVIA (an acronym for hydrogen and the Latin ‘via’ for road) expects to be first-to-market with turnkey hydrogen mobility solutions, including maintenance and management of fleets.

The joint venture will operate across four sites in France and intends to contribute to the decarbonisation of mobility in Europe, positioning France as an industrial, commercial and technology leader.

David Holderbach chairs HYVIA, bringing more than 20 years’ experience in strategic, product and international sales at the Renault Group.

“HYVIA builds on the complementary skills of Renault Group and Plug Power and will target a 30% market share in hydrogen powered light commercial vehicles in Europe by 2030,” he says.

Its activities will be done at existing Renault facilities in France, with HYVIA’s head office and research and development teams at Villiers-Saint-Frédéric.

The process, manufacturing and logistics teams will be based in Flins, as part of the Re-Factory project, and plan to begin the assembly of fuel cells and recharging stations by the end of this year.

The first three vehicles, based on the Renault Master, will be assembled at the Batilly plant by the end of 2021, while fuel cell integration will be done by Renault subsidiary PVI in Gretz-Armainvilliers.

The HYVIA integrated hydrogen technology complements Renault’s E-TECH technology, increasing vehicle range to 500km with a rapid recharging time of three minutes.

These advantages are particularly well-suited to certain uses of LCVs while addressing the regulatory challenges of decarbonising city centres, Renault says.

Van and chassis cab versions are expected to be produced in large volumes for transporting goods, while a city bus version is planned for urban passenger transport.

“As a pioneer in new energies and the European leader in electric light commercial vehicles, Renault Group is pursuing its objective of having the greenest mix on the market by 2030 with the creation of HYVIA,” Renault Group chief executive Luca de Meo says.

“This joint venture integrates the entire hydrogen mobility ecosystem in a unique way, from the vehicle to infrastructure and turnkey services for customers.”

Plug Power has more than 40,000 fuel cell systems deployed, 110 charging stations capable of distributing more than 40 tonnes of hydrogen daily and produces green hydrogen solutions by electrolysis.

“With HYVIA, we are bringing hydrogen mobility to France and Europe,” Plug Power chief executive Andrew Marsh says.