HyFIVE is an ambitious European project including 15 partners who will deploy 185 fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) from the five global automotive companies who are leading in their commercialisation (BMW, Daimler, Honda, Hyundai and Toyota).

Refuelling stations configured in viable networks will be developed in three distinct clusters by deploying 6 new stations linked with 12 existing stations supplied by Air Products, Copenhagen Hydrogen Network, Linde, Danish Hydrogen Fuel, ITM Power and OMV.

The project’s scale and pan-European breadth allow it to tackle all of the final technical and social issues which could prevent the commercial roll-out of hydrogen vehicle and refuelling infrastructure across Europe. Research tasks will ensure these issues are analysed and that the learning is available for the hydrogen community across Europe. Issues include:

• Demonstrating that the vehicles meet and exceed the technical and environmental expectations for FCEVs
• Establishing best practice on supporting FCEVs in the field, including new procedures for equipping maintenance facilities, training dealers, establishing a spare parts regime etc.
• Using the stations in the project to understand progress on solutions to the outstanding technical issues facing HRS
• Investigating the challenges of using electrolysers to generate renewable hydrogen
• Understanding the impact of operating a network for filling stations operated by different suppliers, with different hydrogen supply modes
• Understanding the buying characteristics of the earliest adopters, who will procure vehicles despite high costs and limited infrastructure
• Providing evidence on the likely trajectory of the commercialisation of FCEVs in Europe

The project will disseminate the results of this demonstration to opinion formers and decision makers across Europe to improve public readiness for the technology and encourage supportive policies and investment decisions.