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More than 20 countries, led by Japan, have agreed to boost output of low-emission hydrogen to at least 90 million tonnes a year by 2030 from 1 million tonnes now, the Japanese industry ministry said on Monday.

The agreement between countries including the United States, Australia and Germany came at the Hydrogen Energy Ministerial Meeting in Tokyo.

The group also initiated a new national hydrogen mobility strategy to accelerate the expansion of national hydrogen production and distribution to support heavy-duty trucking and light-duty rollout across the United States. The strategy is intended to enable the necessary links between ports, key commercial and urban centers, and hydrogen hubs across the United States and ideally, North America.

Toyota Motor North America and Kenworth Truck Company have today (September 22) said a project has “proved” their jointly designed, hydrogen-powered heavy-duty class 8 fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV) can match the performance of diesel.

It comes after the completion of their operations in the Zero and Near-Zero Emission Freight Facilities (ZANZEFF) Shore to Store project at the Port of Los Angeles, which tested 10 Toyota-Kenworth T680 FCEV truck, codenamed Ocean.

Using a 2017 diesel engine operating around 200 miles a day as baseline, Toyota and Kenworth say the T680 has a range of approximately 300 miles when fully loaded to 37,200kg with no downtime between shifts for charging.

• Hydrogen Council releases its state of the industry report, Hydrogen Insights 2022, on the hydrogen imperative for the global energy transition
• 680 large-scale projects announced globally reflecting investments of US$ 240 billion until 2030, an increase of 50% since November 2021
• US$22 billion, or 10% of proposed investments, have reached FID, are under construction, or are already operational
• Real deployment of hydrogen is growing (e.g. 80% increase in installed electrolyzers), and must continue to scale
• Investment proposals must triple to US$700 billion until 2030 in order to achieve the global 2050 net zero target
• Both policymakers and industry need to step up to deliver on hydrogen net-zero

Last Friday, the Brussels-based company Taxi Verts launched their first hydrogen car into service for the Belgian capital. The company launched their test vehicle with the help of Eoly-Energy, a company in the renewable energy sector.

Stadler has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA) and the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) for the design and
delivery of four zero emission hydrogen FLIRT trains for California. This MOU articulates the responsibilities and roles of each stakeholder and will lead to a contract which outlines the procurement of the zero emission multiple units, with the option to purchase up 25 units.

The evolution to a national organization comes at the same time as the Partnership’s initiation of a new national hydrogen mobility strategy. Seeking to accelerate the expansion of national hydrogen production and distribution to support heavy-duty trucking and light-duty rollout across the United States, the strategy will enable the necessary links between ports, key commercial and urban centers, and hydrogen hubs across the United States and ideally, North America. The strategy will leverage the organization’s earlier roadmaps and visions for cars and heavy-duty trucks, as well as national laboratory and state transportation models. In addition, it draws upon California’s policy and investment experience that launched the first retail zero-emission vehicle market in the world and identified achievable steps to a self-sustaining fueling network.

“When the Partnership published its first roadmap outlining how California could launch the world's first fuel cell car market, there were no retail stations or vehicles available. Many questioned if stakeholders could pull off such a feat,” said Bill Elrick, executive director of HFCP. “A decade later, with increasing global recognition of the importance of hydrogen in achieving our zero-emission vehicle and renewable energy objectives, we are more certain that this is a necessary and achievable objective. Hydrogen is no longer a question of ‘if’; rather, it is one of ‘who leads and where first’?”

The working eDAILY FCEV prototype is equipped with Hyundai’s 90 kW hydrogen fuel cell system and 140 kW e-motor. Six tanks offer a combined storage capacity of 12 kg of hydrogen. The GVW (Gross Vehicle Weight) 7.2 ton prototype has been tested in Europe, confirming a driving range of 350 km, maximum payload of 3 tons and a refueling time within 15 minutes. While eDAILY BEV, also launched today at the IAA, is best suited for short journeys, eDAILY FCEV will be an ideal option for deliveries where long range with high payload is necessary.

The UK is also speeding up our deployment of clean and renewable technologies including hydrogen, solar, carbon capture and storage, and wind – where the UK is already a world-leader in offshore generation.

Illinois joined six other Midwestern states in announcing the development of the Midwest Hydrogen Coalition, an agreement that will boost the state's decarbonization efforts. In addition to Illinois, the coalition includes Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana.