by Gilles Guillaume
PARIS, May 12 (Reuters) – Renault hopes to soon sign orders for hydrogen-powered minibuses and vans in the Netherlands and Germany, reflecting growing interest in this new electric technology amid soaring fuel prices, said told Reuters Heinz-Jürgen Löw, director of the commercial vehicle division of the diamond group.
The first fuel cell vehicle from the French car manufacturer, a Master van, will be launched this summer, followed by a City Bus version which is of interest to many cities in France – with a first contract in the west of Paris – but also to Netherlands, he added at the Hyvolution show.
For the van version, the group has made promising contacts, particularly in southern Germany.
Long considered too expensive a niche technology, hydrogen is beginning to appear economically profitable in the face of record diesel prices and uncertainties about oil supplies observed in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“The appetite is increasing. Roughly speaking, each month (..) the number of customer contact requests is increasing by 10% at the moment”, indicated David Holderbach, general manager of Hyvia, a joint venture between Renault and US hydrogen and fuel cell specialist Plug Power.
“(The war in Ukraine) creates anxiety and we have customers who (..) want to end energy dependency.”
The fuel cell offers a higher range than battery-powered electric and is better suited to long distances and the transport of heavier loads.
Despite the challenges linked to a still insufficient network of hydrogen stations and persistent shortages of chips – the order book for all vans reached between six and nine months of sales, a record – the diamond group is still targeting 30% of the market European hydrogen utility vehicles by 2030.
Under the “leader follower” system for distributing roles within the alliance with Nissan and Mitsubishi, it is the diamond-shaped group that is piloting this technology in Europe on behalf of its partners.
“If Nissan thinks it’s something interesting for them, we can always discuss, we leave the door open,” continued Heinz-Jürgen Löw. This segment specialist, formerly of Volvo Renault Trucks and Volkswagen, took up his post at Renault last January.
Renault already manufactures for Nissan a derivative of its Master van in Batilly (Moselle), the Interstar, but offered only in diesel engine or, for ambulances in Japan, in electric battery. (Gilles Guillaume, edited by Matthieu Protard)