The H2moves Scandinavia project ended 31 December 2012.
You can download the final report as a pdf here.
The H2moves Scandinavia project has been a unique opportunity to showcase the reliability and hence marked preparedness of hydrogen operated fuel cell cars under daily driving conditions, even in harsher climate conditions pertinent to Oslo and Copenhagen.
Even though it has been the very first of a chain of Lighthouse Demonstration Projects (LHP), funded by the public private partnership Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU), it has generated several valuable strategic insights which have been summarised in the table below.
The most outstanding result is that the hardware of fuel cell vehicles and the hydrogen refuelling stations (a stationary one in Oslo – Gaustad and a moveable one for use in the European Road Tour) have proven to be unexpectedly reliable. Except of a compressor failure which downed the Gaustad station for two months availabilities of 95-100% on a monthly basis could be reported and no single accident was encountered.
The other important result of the project has been the wide dissemination of the results, both by high level events, but specifically through the possibility for VIP and public ride&drives. All this has cumulated in the European Hydrogen Road Tour, posed as the major hydrogen and fuel cell event in 2012. During this tour H2mS could not only provide valuable insights into the learnings from everyday driving in the Nordic countries or offer free rides strategic, but also collect valuable feedback. The echo from the regions visited was overwhelmingly positive and relevant people announced they would investigate into supporting the hydrogen infrastructure build up or start own demonstration activities. A firework of single events has made the EU Road Tour become a real success, among others by participation in the EcoDolomite electric vehicle race in Bolzano, a visit with own booth at the Paris Motor Show and of London’s livingroom, the London’s Mayor office, signing of an Memorandum of Understanding by the Nordic countries with several international automobile companies in Copenhagen to name but a few.
Also locally in the Nordic countries, the vehicle customers have used their FCEVs for promotional purposes, such as SINTEF for a Ride&Drive event in Trondheim in combination with an inner city rally (Daimler B-Class F-CELL), as ZERO for a trip to Monte Carlo of about 2,200 km refuelling at hydrogen stations along the route (Hyundai iX35 FCEV) or as H2 Logic as emission free support vehicle for the Denmark leg of the Giro d’Italia bicycle race. It goes without saying that all events had a very good media coverage, partially also at international level.
Another aspect which is typically forgotten in this context, but an important ingredient for a successful demonstration project is the building of stakeholder networks. On one side, the project partners have established a trustful cooperation, and here specifically the different approaches by stakeholders from the Nordic countries, from central Europe and from South Korea have contributed to a better understanding of the cultural differences but for the same technical and societal goal of introducing fuel cell vehicle technology.
On the other side, external stakeholders such as the technicians trained in the automotive workshops in Oslo and Copenhagen and certification or safety authorities in both countries got involved and learnt about the market readiness of fuel cell vehicles. As a good example, the rule banning gas fuelled cars from belowground parking garages, which had been established the very same moment when H2mS’s demo phase commenced, was repealed after only few weeks of negotiation between the automobile manufacturer and authority.
The consortium is satisfied about the outcome of the project. The hardware lives on in Oslo and Copenhagen outside the framework of the H2mS project, the FCEVs collecting further miles on Norwegian and Danish roads and the refuelling station continuing to serve hydrogen to FCEVs in both growing hydrogen refuelling infrastructure networks. Strategies in both Norway and Denmark and in the other Nordic countries have been developed for a further deployment of the technology. H2mS has contributed an important and visible milestone along these developments.