EHA Newsletter March 2010

The vice president of DWV, the German hydrogen and fuel cell association, Andreas Ziolek, and EHA’s executive director Marieke Reijalt presented the third EHA/DWV strategy paper “Energy Infrastructure 21″ to Philippe Jean, responsible director for the new EU Clean and Energy Efficient Vehicles Strategy of DG Enterprise and Industry at the EHA/HyER (formerly HyRaMP) Electric Transport Infrastructure seminar in Brussels. Local initiatives to integrate electric transport applications in urban transport systems are accelerating throughout Europe. Electric vehicles powered by batteries and fuel cells require the development of a new sustainable refuelling infrastructure that makes the most efficient  use of local primary energy sources including renewables. The EHA, in collaboration with HyER (formerly HyRaMP), the West Midlands in Europe office and with the support of ERTRAC and the Joint Undertaking for Hydrogen and Fuel Cells, organised a seminar on March 23 presenting an update of activities in EU programmes that support the development of both battery and fuel cell powered vehicles and infrastructures. Presentations of  local and regional initiatives included insight in local activities that are already integrating both technologies into their public fleets. A panel of EU officials responsible for EU’s transport policy and industry experts addressed how to best [...]

The EHA presented its views on the need for a coordinated and accelerated approach to electric transport infrastructure build-up for both battery and fuel cell electric vehicles at the Commission’s Hearing on the new EU Clean and Energy Efficient Vehicles Strategy on March 11. The EHA in addition submitted a contribution to the EU consultation on this topic referring to the importance of sustainable electric transport infrastructure build-up to accelerate the roll-out of battery and fuel cell electric development and the efficient use of primary energy sources, both fossil and renewable, in transport. The EHA position paper can be downloaded below. The Toyota FCHV-adv its newest FC model was presented at the EHA seminar on March 23 in Brussels. Two Toyota FCHV – adv are currently cruising the centre of Berlin.

Some € 56 million will be made available, supporting up to 75% of the eligible project costs.The programme will be funding capacity building; building and spreading of know-how, skills and methods; exchanges of experience; development of market and intelligence; policy input; awareness raising and information provision; and education and training. Any public or private organisation from the EU, Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Croatia can apply. Deadline for submission is 24th June, 17:00 local Brussels’ time. More information on the call can find here.

Local initiatives to integrate electric transport applications in urban transport systems are accelerating throughout Europe. Electric vehicles powered by batteries and fuel cells require the development of a new sustainable refueling infrastructure that makes the most efficient  use of local primary energy sources including renewables. HyER (formerly HyRaMP) teamed up with the West Midlands in Europe office and the European Hydrogen Association, EHA to organise a seminar that included an update of activities in EU programmes on the development of both battery and fuel cell powered vehicles and infrastructures and presented local and regional initiatives that are already integrating both technologies into their public fleets. The event was part of the programme of the EU Sustainable Energy Week (www.eusew.eu) The seminar went very well with excellent speakers from the Commission and regional initiatives as well as the main EU programmes ERTRAC for electric battery car development (see roadmap at www.ertrac.org) the EIB and the JTI. Please find all presentations given on the top of the page.

The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) adopted the first international regulation on safety of both fully electric and hybrid cars.  The regulation adopted ensures that cars with a high voltage electric power train, such as hybrid and fully electric vehicles, are as safe as conventional cars.

Typically, electric vehicles operate at very high voltages, in the range of 500 Volts. Therefore it is essential to require protection against the risk of electric shocks. The revised UNECE Regulation 100 will ensure the safety of electric cars by setting out how users of cars shall be protected from the high voltage parts of cars. For example, it prescribes a test procedure that uses a standardized ‘test finger’ to check protection all over the car.

Commissioner Connie Hedegaard of Climate Action presented the new EU strategy to the EU Parliament on March 9 indicating that international negotiations must ensure that the future global agreement will have a high level of environmental integrity and will actually keep warming below 2°C. The EU sees the Kyoto Protocol as the central building block of the UN process but the limited number of countries it covers, and its serious weaknesses, must be addressed. If allowed to continue these weaknesses, which concern accounting rules for forestry emissions and the handling of surplus national emission rights from the 2008-2012 period, would risk reducing industrialized countries’ current emission reduction pledges to almost zero. The Commission believes the EU must show leadership by taking tangible action to become the most climate friendly region of the world as part of the Europe 2020 strategy proposed on 3 March.  The EU has committed to a 20% emissions cut below 1990 levels by 2020, and to scaling up this reduction to 30% if other major economies agree to do their fair share of the global effort. Ahead of the June European Council, the Commission will prepare an analysis of what practical policies would be required to implement [...]

On 24 March 2009, Daimler, Shell, TOTAL, Vattenfall Europe, and hySOLUTIONS signed an agreement with the City of Hamburg to build a low-emission fleet of vehicles and the accompanying infrastructure, including hydrogen fuelling stations. From 2010  a total of ten Daimler fuel cell buses of the latest generation will be operating in Hamburg in service and another 20 Mercedes B Class will be added. The cooperation with Shell and Total will inlcude  the developmennt of an extra four hydrogen refuelling stations with 700 bar refilling capacity. Vattenfall will increase its capacity to produce hydrogen for renewable sources. Last but not least a fuel cell test facility will be founded to test fuel cells for aircraft applications by Airbus, EADS and DLR with the support of the City of Hamburg.

On March 13  European Commissioner for Science and Research, Janez Potočnik, opened a new facility for testing fuel consumption and emissions of trucks and buses. The new installation, “VELA 7″ at the Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) in Ispra (Northern Italy), realistically simulates wind drag, tyre/road friction and full drive cycles for real-life articulated lorries of up to 40 tonnes or 12m long buses. It comes at a crucial time since implementation guidelines for new emission standards, notably the Euro VI regarding heavy duty vehicles, must be defined by 1st April 2010. “Today, Europe’s freight transport by trucks reaches 1888 billion tonne-kilometers every year; increasing trucks efficiency will significantly reduce fuel consumption. The Commission’s new facility will make a great contribution to the Commission’s priorities in these areas.” The new high-tech test facility, the seventh in a series of Vehicle Emission Laboratories (VELA), contains an impressive roller bench in a climatic chamber to test exhaust gases from heavy duty vehicles with top- notch measuring equipment. It will enable JRC researchers to tackle the challenges in implementing current, and developing future, emission standards for lorries and buses by using test cycles that are very close to real life conditions. The JRC [...]