France

Stellantis launches H2 van on the market

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Citroën ë-Jumpy Hydrogen, © Citroën
© Citroën

After years of silence regarding Opel’s fuel cell activities, the German automobile manufacturer came back in mid-May 2021 with an H2 van Vivaro-e Hydrogen – and with it the French sister companies Peugeot and Citroën, both of which also belong to the parent company Stellantis. The major corporation designed its own “mid-power plug-in hydrogen fuel cell electric system” for the three brands, consisting of a 100-kW drive combined with a 45-kW fuel cell from the French manufacturer Symbio and a high-voltage power storage unit.

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HYACINTH: Europe-Wide Acceptance Surveys

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HYACINTHDuring the HYACINTH project supported by the EU, the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI based in Karlsruhe, Germany, and its partners have studied how well-accepted hydrogen technologies are by the general public as well as industry and governmental stakeholders. The result was that overall, there was a more positive attitude toward those technologies in Germany

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Eco-Bonus Not (Yet) Appealing

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electric-carCritics of the economic incentive for electric cars have had their I-told-you-so moment for now: The “eco-bonus” has been attracting little interest so far. Within two months (from September 5th, 2016), the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Export Control received a mere 3,027 applications. Registration figures, however, paint a slightly more optimistic picture of the market

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New Hydrogen Europe Board

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Raphael Schoentgen, © Hydrogen Europe

Hydrogen Europe has a new board. The European hydrogen association, formerly known as New Energy World Industry Grouping (NEW-IG) until it changed its name in November 2015, elected three new board members at the end of this June. Its chair has since been Raphaël Schoentgen, director of research and technologies at French energy supply company Engie. He followed in the footsteps of Pierre-Etienne Franc

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La Grande Nation Hangs On To Nuclear Power

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Meziane Boudellal

In the 1960s and 1970s, France’s industry and research departments used to be very proactive in fuel cell development. Then, 1974 came to pass and with it the slogan of “all-electric, all-nuclear” (tout-éléctrique, tout-nucléaire). The number of fuel cell projects fell drastically and remained at its low level until about the end of the 1990s. In the meantime, a great many subsidies have gone into nuclear industry developments: Billions were and are being spent through CEA (Commissariat à l’Énergie Atomique) in this field.

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France’s Own Energy Transformation

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La Poste uses H2 vans by © Renault

Not too long ago, France’s capital had been the venue for the UN Climate Change Conference COP21. Even if hydrogen and fuel cell technology was not a separate item on the agenda, it is a good bet that many of the around 40,000 participants – from government officials to business associations and unions to environmental and religious organizations – have developed a basic understanding of this technology

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BMW Presents New 5 Series Boasting Fuel-Cell Engine

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Fill it up, please! © BMW

This summer car manufacturer BMW presented a new vehicle driven by a fuel cell. In Miramar in the south of France, the Bavarian company revealed their new BMW 5 Series Gran Turismo (GT) on the first of July 2015. The car is a showcase vehicle, which was developed in cooperation with Toyota and is planned for mass production by 2020.

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International Comparison of E-Car Regions

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J. Tomforde with F. Loogen and State Secretary N. Barthle (l. to r.)

What impact does the ongoing electrification of the automotive industry have? Which technology fields will be affected by the structural changes? What needs to be done not to lag behind? Questions like these are a concern especially to regions highly dependent on the car industry. In a search for answers, the State Agency for Electric Mobility and Fuel Cell Technology, e-mobil BW

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