On September 13, four international vehicle manufacturers gathered to demonstrate that hydrogen -driven FCEV are not technologies of the future, but of the present. Seven FCEV vehicles of Mercedes-Benz, Honda, Hyundai and Toyota brought their different fuel battery systems to European Hydrogen Road Tour 2012.
This tour will last a month, with special stops in nine European cities, where interested people will have the opportunity to experience the advantages of this alternative engine. In several cities, it will be the first opportunity for the general public to meet and try FCEV vehicles, whose only broadcast is water.
The objective of the campaign is to publicize the FCEV to politicians, industrial leaders, press and public in general, transmitting a clear message. Although there is already a hydrogen vehicle technology, it is essential to improve hydrogen distribution infrastructure. This tour involves, without a doubt, the most generalized effort to promote FCEV in Europe this year.
The FCEV of the participating manufacturers have left Hamburg on September 13, then visiting Hannover, Bolzano, Paris, Cardiff, Bristol, Swindon, London and Copenhagen, with the support of local entities in each city. H2 Logic Denmark will provide mobile refueling stations in some cities of the tour.
The European Hydrogen Road Tour 2012 is part of the “H2Moves Scandinavia” project (“Hydrogen moves Scandinavia”). This is the first European project (European Lighthouse Project) on hydrogen financed by the joint program on fuel and hydrogen batteries (European Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking), launched by the European Commission and the groups interested in the European sector. The project focuses on gathering greater acceptance among the customers of the FCEV -driven by hydrogen and preparing the market for fuel battery technology. The experience of use of 19 FCEV vehicles in Oslo and Copenhagen and the corresponding hydrogen refueling infrastructure shows that technology is already reliable, even in the most rigorous Scandinavian winners.
Michel Gardel, vice president of communications and external and environmental issues of Toyota Motor Europe, commented: “Toyota has been actively investigating the fuel battery technology, and we are working to market our new generation fuel battery vehicle in 2015. The European Hydrogen Road Tour offers our company and our partners a great opportunity to demonstrate the availability of technology to European consumers.
Dr. Christian Mohrdieck, Director of Development of the Fuel Pile System at Daimler AG, underlines the importance of this technology: ”On the way to mobility without emissions, electric fuel cell vehicles, which offer great autonomy and a reduced refueling time at the same time, will play a leading role in the future. However, the success of this technology depends absolutely conditions, such as the availability of a national hydrogen infrastructure. ”
Thomas Brachmann, from the Automobile Research and Engineering Department in Honda R & D Europe (Deutschland) GMBH, said that “Honda believes that fuel -stack electric vehicles are the definitive solution for mobility, since they give a practical, clean and almost silent response to transportation needs. The European Hydrogen Road Tour offers the public, the media and the representatives of the administration of the administration Experience this technology without emission in the first person. "
Allan Rushforth, main vice president and operations director of Hyundai Motor Europe, describes his reasons to join the tour: “Hyundai is proud to participate fully in the European Hydrogen Road Tour 2012. The Hyundai Ix35 FCEV not only shows our commitment to produce electric vehicles of fuel battery, but also the advantages of the FCEV. Improve the availability and performance of this technology, we can expect FCEV to offer future generations sustainable mobility and drastic mitigation of climate change. ”
About fuel battery vehicles,
fuel batteries efficiently transform the chemical energy of hydrogen into electricity and heat, and emit only water. In combination with an electric motor, it can be used to have vehicles with much larger autonomy and a refueling time faster than that of battery electric vehicles.
Electric fuel cell vehicles have a yield comparable to that of vehicles with conventional internal combustion engine, but without exhaust emissions and with hardly any operating noise.
