On the face of it, it's a revolution: : on September the 3rd, CNH Industrial, parent company of Iveco and Heuliez, announced a strategic alliance with Nikola, a North American manufacturer of hydrogen electric trucks, whose first models are not yet marketed. For the first time, a major European truck manufacturer is officially making the switch to hydrogen.
Revolution or evolution?
But could it really be otherwise? Behind the appearance of a “revolution” would there not be – even if no one questions the importance of the announcement – an “inevitable evolution”? Because it reconciles zero-emissions and freedom of use, hydrogen technology stands out today as one of the few capable of responding to professionals in goods transport and urban logistics who wish to carry out energy transition as a reality in their sector (fueling is done in a few minutes on utility vehicles and the autonomy is at least double compared to that of equivalent battery-only models).
The French government also predicts that nearly 2,000 trucks and more than 20,000 light utility vehicles will be on the roads by 2028, with 1,000 charging stations that will allow them to easily refuel. “Evolution” is already underway in the regions: Ile-de-France should have around thirty stations within 3 years, Auvergne-Rhône Alpes around twenty, while Normandy is preparing to reach 15 in a few months. Some countries are even going at full speed: in China in particular, the milestone of a hundred thousand trucks will be well exceeded in 2028...
The key role of equipment manufacturers
It remains to transform these plans into reality, and this is largely in the hands of hydrogen system equipment manufacturers. Symbio, a subsidiary of Michelin and at the heart of a joint venture being created with Faurecia, is one, just like Bosch-PowerCell or Ballard Systems for example. The latter must in fact succeed in lowering the prices of their systems – so that vehicles are accessible – therefore standardizing their products and rapidly increasing their production capacities. However, they must also consider the fact that the different vehicle segments do not have the same level of maturity (more than 300 Renault Kangoo ZEH2s are on European roads, while heavy goods vehicles are at the prototype stage) . There is therefore no question of neglecting agility and the ability to personalize products in the name of the imperative of standardization. Not easy. Finally, they must help manufacturers reduce the development time of their hydrogen vehicles... because many professionals, increasingly forced to access city centers in particular, are waiting.
Symbio meets these challenges
With the support of the Michelin group, its parent company, and the prospects of a joint venture with Faurecia, Symbio has acquired the necessary assets to meet the challenges specific to the hydrogen mobility market:
- A complete and standardized range of hydrogen kits (“StackPack” in technical version), to answer quickly to manufacturers and reduce the time to market vehicles
- An ability to personalize these kits and quickly adapt them to the specificities of manufacturers' electric vehicles.
- A very flexible production tool, to meet the needs of several manufacturers at the same time while limiting costs.
A revolution in the equipment manufacturing profession? Certainly not! But an important… development!
Read all the « Expert Opinion » articles on the SprintProject blog
