Hydrogen and Fuel Cell transport is breaking barriers and records!

The Technical University of Delft in the Netherlands, with support of Linde Benelux, built a fuel cell powered formula 1 race car, The FORZE IV. The vehicle broke a fuel cell car record on August 16, 2011 in the Hague, Netherlands. Covering the 1/8th mile in just 10,459 seconds, it beat the previous record by one second! The EHA took the opportunity to interview Jaco Reijerkerk, Head of Business Development Linde Gas Benelux to get his view on the event and the developments in the hydrogen industry.

Hamburg, a pioneer in hydrogen bus demonstration in Europe is progressing in full speed as the most recent city to bring new Fuel Cell Hydrogen (FCH) powered buses in regular public transport service. The next cities to follow include Aargau (CH), Bolzano/Bozen (IT), Milan (IT) and Oslo (NO). Earlier this year, London and Cologne also saw the start of FCH bus operation. All mentioned cities are linked to the Clean Hydrogen In European Cities (CHIC) project.

In view of the European Council meeting which will address non-budgetary ways to support transport infrastructure build up, EHA in a joint effort with the FCH JU Programme Office, NEW IG and NERGHY , submitted a letter to European Council members on the occasion of the EU Transport Council the beginning of September, underlining the need a comprehensive support strategy and incentives to facilitate the rapid build up of new infrastructure for clean fuels in view of the new TEN T Guidelines.

The Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU) closed its 4th call for proposals on August 18th 2011. Results of the evaluations will be available at the end of September 2011. The EHA’s contribution to the dissemination of 5 FCH JU running projects has demonstrated the EHA’s work as an effective communication and information instrument. The EHA over the summer has facilitiated the development of proposals consortia for the current FCH JU 2011 Call and, under the umbrella of FAST, has been included in 3 project proposals which involve the topics of Energy Storage, Training for Emergency Responders and a demp projects for Fuel Cell Forklift Trucks.

Increasingly our colleagues in new EU Member States are stepping up their efforts to engage their politicians in hydrogen development. As the Hungarian government is preparing its national energy strategy the Hungarian Hydrogen Association will be hosting a workshop on the 29th of September in Budapest to present the role of hydrogen to local and national officials with regards to opportunities and challenges in national energy and transport systems. The EHA will be presenting the results of the current FCH JU projects it is involved in (see under EHA Project Info) at this event.