On May 28, 2024 the European Commission has approved, under EU State aid rules, a fourth Important Project of Common European Interest (‘IPCEI’) to support research, innovation and the first industrial deployment in the hydrogen value chain. The project, called ‘IPCEI Hy2Move‘, was jointly prepared and notified by seven Member States: Estonia, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Slovakia and Spain to contribute to the 90% reduction of emissions from the mobility and transport sectors, in order for the EU to become climate-neutral by 2050. By fostering the use of hydrogen as a fuel, it will also help achieve the objectives of the European Green Deal, the EU Hydrogen Strategy and the Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy.

No EU funding is involved but Member States will provide €1.4 billion in public funding, which the Commission expects to unlock additional €3.3 billion in private investments. As part of this IPCEI, 11 companies with activities in one or more Member States, including small and medium-sized enterprises (‘SMEs’) and start-ups, will undertake 13 innovative projects.

IPCEI Hy2Move will cover a wide part of the hydrogen technology value chain, by supporting the development of a set of technological innovations, including:

• The development of mobility and transport applications to integrate hydrogen technologies in transport means (road, maritime and aviation). This includes, for example, fuel cell vehicle platforms for use in buses and trucks.
• The development of high-performance fuel cell technologies, which use hydrogen to generate electricity with sufficient power to move ships and locomotives.
• The development of next generation on-board storage solutions for hydrogen. For the use in aircraft, lightweight, yet robust hydrogen tanks are necessary ensuring safety and efficiency in flight conditions.
• The development of technologies to produce hydrogen for mobility and transport applications, in particular for supplying hydrogen refuelling stations on-site with pressurised, 99.99% pure fuel-cell-grade hydrogen.

IPCEI Hy2Move complements the first three IPCEIs on the hydrogen value chain:

1. Hy2Tech; approved on 15 July 2022, to provide up to €5.4 billion in public funding, to unlock €8.8 billion in private investments, focussing on the development of hydrogen technologies for end users.
2. Hy2Use; approved on 21 September 2022, to provide up to €5.2 billion in public funding,  to unlock  €7 billion in private investments, focussing on hydrogen applications in the industrial sector.
3. Hy2Infra; approved on 15 February 2024, to provide up to €6.9 billion in public funding,  to unlock €5.4 billion in private investments, focussing on infrastructure investments, which are not covered by the first two IPCEIs.

The completion of the overall IPCEI is expected by 2031, with timelines varying in function of the individual projects and the companies involved. Around 3,600 direct jobs are expected to be created, and many more indirect ones.

The H2MOVE IPCEI approval follows the adoption on April 10, 2024 of the European Parliament of a the EU Regulation strengthening the CO₂ emission performance standards for new heavy-duty vehicles (HDVs) by 45% as of 2030, 65% as of 2035 and 90% as of 2040. The draft law will see the number of zero-emission vehicles, such as battery-electric and hydrogen-fuelled trucks, boosted, while the number of diesel trucks will have to be drastically reduced. In 2023, diesel trucks still accounted for 96% of all new truck sales. For city buses, rules are even stricter, and include a complete phase-out of new diesel vehicles by 2035. This huge transformation of fleets will need to happen in 10 to 15 years time and given the current infrastructure for zero emission charging and refuelling, like hydrogen, the new EU Alternative Fuel Infrastructure Facility Regulation (EU) 2023/1804 on the deployment of alternative fuels infrastructure, that was approved on September 13, 2023 and is applicable since 13 April 2024 will need to facilitate an acceleration of specifically.

• Publicly available electric recharging infrastructure for light duty road vehicles (cars and vans), the regulation sets out mandatory national fleet based targets (e.g. for every battery electric light duty vehicle a total power output of at least 1.3 kW must be provided through publicly accessible recharging stations while for every plug-in hybrid light-duty vehicle, a total power output of at least 0.8 kW must be provided).
• It also sets out distance-based targets for light duty and heavy-duty road vehicles on the TEN-T core and comprehensive network. It also requires EU Member States to ensure a number of recharging stations are in place for heavy-duty vehicles in urban nodes and in safe and secure parklings.
• For hydrogen, publicly accessible hydrogen refuelling stations must be deployed with a maximum distance of 200 km in between them along the TEN-T core and the TEN-T comprehensive network and at least one must be available in every urban node.
• As regards, electricity supply to vessels and stationary aircraft, the regulation sets targets for the deployment of shore-side electricity supply for larger seagoing container and passenger ships in maritime ports and for inland waterway vessels, and for electricity supply to stationary aircraft at TEN-T core and comprehensive network airports.
• It also contains provisions for EU Member States to ensure minimum coverage of publicly accessible refuelling points for liquefied methane dedicated to heavy-duty vehicles on the TEN-T core and comprehensive network and to ensure an appropriate number of liquified methane refuelling points in maritime TEN-T ports.

More specifically the new regulation calls for more stringent targets for heavy duty infra for zero emission options:

Article 5 Recharging infrastructure dedicated to heavy-duty electric vehicles:
1. Member States shall ensure a minimum coverage of publicly accessible recharging points dedicated to heavy-duty electric vehicles.
To that end, Member States shall ensure that:
(a) by 31 December 2025, along at least 15 % of the length of the TEN-T road network, publicly accessible recharging pools dedicated to heavy-duty electric vehicles are deployed in each direction of travel and that each recharging pool offers a power output of at least 1 400 kW and includes at least one recharging point with an individual power output of at least 350 kW;
(b) by 31 December 2027, along at least 50 % of the length of the TEN-T road network, publicly accessible recharging pools dedicated to heavy-duty electric vehicles are deployed in each direction of travel and that each recharging pool:
(i) along the TEN-T core road network, offers a power output of at least 2 800 kW and includes at least two recharging points with an individual power output of at least 350 kW;
(ii) along the TEN-T comprehensive road network, offers a power output of at least 1 400 kW and includes at least one recharging point with an individual power output of at least 350 kW;
(c) by 31 December 2030, along the TEN-T core road network, publicly accessible recharging pools dedicated to heavy-duty electric vehicles are deployed in each direction of travel with a maximum distance of 60 km between them and that each recharging pool offers a power output of at least 3 600 kW and includes at least two recharging points with an individual power output of at least 350 kW;
(d) by 31 December 2030, along the TEN-T comprehensive road network, publicly accessible recharging pools dedicated to heavy-duty electric vehicles are deployed in each direction of travel with a maximum distance of 100 km between them and each recharging pool offers a power output of at least 1 500 kW and includes at least one recharging point with an individual power output of at least 350 kW;

Article 6 Targets for hydrogen refuelling infrastructure of road vehicles:
1. Member States shall ensure that, in their territory, a minimum number of publicly accessible hydrogen refuelling stations are deployed by 31 December 2030. To that end, Member States shall ensure that by 31 December 2030 publicly accessible hydrogen refuelling stations designed for a minimum cumulative capacity of 1 tonne per day and equipped with at least a 700 bar dispenser are deployed with a maximum distance
of 200 km between them along the TEN-T core network.