The regulation sets out to establish up to 1,780 hydrogen refuelling stations at the core and comprehensive TEN-T networks, with a maximum distance of 100km between each station.
It is hoped the regulation will encourage the uptake of hydrogen-powered vehicles in Europe, with estimations that the planned stations could power up to 59,000 trucks.
With mobility playing a large role at the Hydrogen Technology Expo, H2 View spoke to players across the mobility sector to hear their thoughts on anticipated legislation.
Matilda Heidorn, Assistant to Management Board at FAUN, manufacturer of hydrogen commercial vehicles said it comes as big step for the whole value chain. Heidorn said, “This would come as a big step for FAUN, the vehicle operations, the whole value chain of hydrogen refuelling stations, as well as production.”
“We think the ramp up of hydrogen infrastructure can only take place in parallel to the ramp up of hydrogen vehicles,” said Heidorn. “Having stations will less than 100km between them would be a great thing for us.”
Jake Martin, Hydrogen Business Development Manager at Haskel, believes the move from the EU will drive the industry to grow and meet supply and demand needs.
“Big strides like this make a massive dent in growth. It comes as a massive investment within this market and will drive everybody else to react to supply and demand,” Martin told H2 View.
He added, “Tier one companies have done their bit, they had made the vehicles, so let’s build the stations. It seems like the EU is making massive strides in the market and hopefully that will drive the rest of the industry to change.”
Keith Croysdale at Luxfer Gas Cylinders, storage specialist, added that the retention of the regulation could solve a missing piece of the hydrogen mobility puzzle. “It’s a great move for growth in hydrogen mobility in Europe,” he said.
Croysdale added, “Infrastructure is a core missing piece of the hydrogen value chain puzzle, that key influencers in the industry need to implement hydrogen vehicles on a large-scale.”
Having just entered the hydrogen refuelling market, traditional refuelling leader, Gilbarco Veeder-Root (GVR) believes the move from the EU has opened up an opportunity for the market.
“It is a great opportunity to commercialise an industry and drive some big scale. It is also great for OEMs,” said Joel van Rensburg, General Manager, Hydrogen Business Unit at GVR. “They have made some big investments into vehicle production, so hopefully they can start seeing a true return on their investment in the market. I think it is going to be huge.”