In view of the European Council meeting of September 5-6. dedicated to transport and specifically non-budgetary ways to support transport infrastructure build up, EHA in a joint effort with the Joint Task force for Hydrogen and Fuel Cells, submitted a letter to European Council members underlining three main themes:

A dedicated hydrogen infrastructure is required

The market will not cater for a change to a low carbon transport system by itself, especially where high initial investments in infrastructure are at stake and imply disadvantage for the first movers.

Electric cars, both battery and fuel cells,are the only alternatives with the potential to reduce carbon footprint in individual transport to zero. Fuel cell electric vehicles are a clean alternative for both shorter and longer ranges, delivering similar driving-performance as conventional cars in terms of range, size and refueling time and thus providing for a realistic clean alternative.

A coherent and predictable long-term strategy, regulatory framework and financial support mechanism is needed to attract the necessary (private) investments

Credible transitions require a consistent and predictable regulatory framework, financial support mechanisms to attract investments as well as require public, budget-neutral incentives to ensure timely and sustainable introduction of clean transport options, similarly to what was designed to support the production of renewable energy. The technology is there and ready for deployment.

A public-private approach and better pooling of available public and private  resources are essential for success.

To attract sufficient private investment, a predictable and long-term framework should be in place, allowing pooling of resources from various funding/support schemes and targeting market de-risking mechanisms, such as equity based funding and innovative financing mechanisms.

The task force includes organisations:  Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking, Industry Grouping for Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Technology (NEW-IG), Fuel Cell Europe, The European Regions and Municipalites Partnership for hydrogen and fuel cells, (HyER (formerly HyRaMP)) and The European Hydrogen Association (EHA).

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