The breakthrough in hydrogen mobility raises the question of the deployment of infrastructure, refueling and the digitalization of vehicle charging operations.
The digital solutions currently being developed are aimed at users, who can thus be identified when recharging the vehicle, and at operators, who receive real-time data on their infrastructures. These solutions also provide a complete vision of vehicle fleets to professional infrastructure customers.
In a context of increasing and necessary digitalization, software has interfaces adapted to users. Personalization is total and tailor-made. This involves, for example, providing users, via mobile applications or interactions with the station, with all the information necessary to recharge their vehicle, such as when to pick up the gun or how the filling is carried out. . Digital technology is thus an educational tool at the service of the user.
On the other side of the chain, for private operators who manage the stations, these software are tools for invoicing, contract management or even supervision of the operation of the stations. These tools are adapted according to the client profile and allow the spectrum of operations to be carried out more quickly and easily.
Companies like FillnDrive equip stations with a computer that communicates with the user via their smartphone or directly with the vehicle. This communication between the two points of contact uses encryption technologies. The data is therefore transmitted securely and the user is also perfectly identified, as is the data which will be billed.
All stakeholders in the hydrogen sector are considering the deployment of hydrogen mobility. Initially, this deployment concerns professionals, mainly in urban areas and with large consumers who regularly return to the same station. These are therefore utility vehicles, taxis like in Paris, garbage trucks or buses like in Dijon. It is around this type of use that hydrogen mobility is deployed.
But as the infrastructure is put in place, uses will diversify and extend to international transport trucks and private vehicles. The real challenge is to change scale. Remember that there are 50 hydrogen stations in France compared to 11,000 gasoline stations. To move to a larger scale, it will therefore be necessary to offer interoperable stations in which any user can recharge their vehicle with a single type of identification.
This digitalization for the recharging of hydrogen vehicles will thus make it possible to ensure better operational monitoring for professionals, but also to offer quality services to users.
