Hydrogen: Smart money follows the technology…
Two examples where lack of vision proved fatal: In 1985, Plessey, then the UK’s largest telecoms manufacturer for the business market, turned down a partnership with Nokia in the belief there would be no business market for mobile phones. In another classic, Netflix on the edge of going out of business, approached the then giant Blockbuster video business for strategic investment, which they declined…
Those of us with the vision to understand that hydrogen is critical to delivering zero-emission transportation, are similarly used to people saying, “Oh, the world tried hydrogen 25 years ago and it didn’t work.” But technology moves on…
15 years ago, battery electric vehicles (BEVs), solar panels and wind turbines all required heavy government subsidy to be economically viable, but rapid advances in technology have completely changed that and today renewables deliver electricity at a lower cost than fossil fuels.
With the adoption of renewable generation, electricity grids around the world are rapidly greening and with this comes the prospect in the 2030s of abundant green hydrogen, and with this, the viability of hydrogen powertrain adoption across all areas of mobility will become possible. This is why we launched Viritech in 2021, realising that with abundant green hydrogen on the horizon, investment in the development of the key enabling technologies required to deliver hydrogen powertrain solutions was both critical and a great business opportunity.
Since we launched in 2021, and while we have been beavering away at the MIRA Technology Park near Nuneaton, creating groundbreaking technologies and a world-leading pool of hydrogen powertrain know-how, the wider world has been waking up to hydrogen too. As a result, encouraged by major government commitment to fund the hydrogen economy in the US and in the EU, we are now seeing big investment coming into hydrogen – in fact, according to the International Energy Agency, hydrogen and fuel cell investment is the now fastest growing area of clean energy investment.
This is not simply big government-funded projects with vague aspirations to create a hydrogen economy: profit-conscious automotive manufacturers are now investing heavily to stake their claim on the future of hydrogen too, with new examples now being announced weekly.
Recent examples in Europe:
· Bosch has increased its investment in fuel cells to €2.5bn between 2021 and 2026
· Symbio (a JV between Forvia, Michelin and Stellantis) has opened its first fuel cell gigafactory in France, which will produce 50,000 fuel cells a year by 2026
· Plastic Omnium has just announced a factory in the USA to make 100,000 hydrogen pressure vessels (hydrogen tanks) from 2026
· Similarly, Forvia in France is starting mass production of hydrogen tanks in Europe and North America, also aiming to produce 100,000 tanks annually, with the target of slashing production costs by a factor of five by 2025
· Stellantis have announced production of the Opel Vivaro-e Hydrogen and Citroën ë-Jumpy Hydrogen vans, with volumes of 10,000 p.a. planned initially
· Daimler Truck and Volvo Group have teamed up to create a new fuel cell venture called Cellcentric that aims to crank up large-scale FC production from 2027
· Ford has confirmed development of a hydrogen version of the Transit van, with early examples expected in 2026
Recent examples in the US:
· General Motors and Honda have started producing fuel cells at a factory near Detroit for the Honda's CR-V crossover utility and a line of hydrogen-powered cement mixers, dump trucks, garbage trucks that GM is developing with Autocar Industries
· GM has announced a new joint venture with Komatsu to develop fuel cell-powered mining trucks
· Toyota, Hyundai and Nikola are bringing fuel cell HGVs to market
· Cummins is developing hydrogen combustion engines for trucks and off-road vehicles
When we launched Viritech in 2021, we acknowledged that hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) technology was well behind BEV technology, and then set about bridging the gap as quickly as possible. We have made great progress in the past three years and we are now able to offer a family of hydrogen powertrains that will range from 60-300KW for use in automotive, aerospace, marine, and distributed power applications. For now the costs remain high but those will become competitive as production scales.
So, while there are still a few who deny hydrogen’s future role in mobility, the scale of investment and growing engagement of major manufacturers shows beyond doubt that something has shifted, and increasingly smart money is recognising that companies like Viritech are now able to deliver the advanced enabling powertrain technologies required to make hydrogen mobility a reality and a key component of zero-emission transportation.
