Mathieu Gardies, founder and president of Hype, the first hydrogen mobility platform integrating production, distribution and uses, with taxi as its primary market, answers questions from Green Innovation. He discusses the unique positioning of his company within the French hydrogen ecosystem.
Smart Mobility. Mathieu Gardies, who are you and what is the story of Hype?
Mathieu Gardies. I am a father of four children who, like many Parisians, have noticed the appearance of respiratory problems directly linked to air pollution in urban areas. An engineer by training, I sought to provide a concrete solution to quickly reduce the emissions generated by essential professional fleets, starting with taxis. In 2009, I started. After several tests with battery electric vehicles, I pivoted in 2014 to hydrogen, a solution offering many advantages, particularly for intensive and random mobility, such as taxis.
In 2015, I launched Hype in Paris, on the occasion of COP21, with the first five hydrogen taxis, powered by a first station located on the Pont de l’Alma. Today, we still operate the largest fleet of hydrogen taxis in the world. We offer this service to customers and drivers, at the same costs as a thermal taxi service (traditional or hybrid). At the same time, we are working on the rapid deployment of our integrated hydrogen mobility platform, in France and internationally.
What exactly do you mean by an integrated hydrogen mobility platform?
At this stage of maturity of the sector, the key point for the success of hydrogen mobility projects is, on the one hand, the identification of relevant market situations and, on the other hand, the concomitance between the deployment of infrastructure and that of uses. To be able to start and develop at the forefront, Hype made the choice, from its creation, to integrate the entire value chain within its ecosystem: by locally producing green hydrogen, by distributing it via its network to all types of users and by simultaneously developing uses, starting with taxis, which constitute a particularly relevant lever for accelerating the scale-up of hydrogen mobility.
Concerning the infrastructure aspect of your platform, what is Hype’s strategy?
Hype’s strategy is to develop its own green hydrogen production and distribution network, by thinking directly in network on a regional scale and not station by station, by deploying its infrastructures in series in order to industrialize its development capacities , while relying on leading partners with aligned interests, such as HRS and McPhy, two leaders in the French hydrogen sector.
What are your short-term goals?
The objective of Hype in Île-de-France in the very short term is to commission a new series of seven stations, by the end of 2022-beginning of 2023, to begin to integrate new uses within the ecosystem (last mile logistics, buses, garbage trucks, etc.) as part of our Last Mile by Hype project, in addition to the development of taxis which will accelerate significantly. In the medium term, by the end of 2024, Hype intends to deploy at least 26 stations in Île-de-France (including 20 of high capacity, 1 t/day each) capable of serving in particular 10,000 taxis, and implement its platform in 15 other regions in France and internationally, the first five of which will be announced at the end of the year, with the aim of reaching a total network of at least 100 Hype stations by this time. due date.
What is your ambition, through the Hype project?
Drawing on the experience acquired, its speed of execution and its “scalable” model, Hype’s commitment since its creation is twofold: on the one hand, it is to facilitate the rapid and massive transition of transport on demand and other professional mobility towards zero emissions and, on the other hand, to play a catalytic role in the sector, by establishing industrial partnerships allowing the co-development of new projects and the emergence of tomorrow’s technologies.
Do hydrogen electric vehicles represent a more relevant solution than battery electric vehicles?
Battery electric and hydrogen vehicles provide complementary solutions, and the customer must be able to choose. One may be favored over the other depending on use, geographic context and local energy infrastructure. However, the two solutions do not pose the same challenges when scaling up. The particularity of hydrogen mobility is that it offers significant acceleration capacity. Indeed, with hydrogen, the more the volumes increase, the more competitive and easier this solution becomes to deploy. With battery electric vehicles, it is the opposite: the more the volumes increase, the more difficult it becomes and hydrogen then provides solutions; we must now think about and move towards a coordinated deployment of the two types of networks.
Experts are not aligned on the role that hydrogen can play in the energy transition, particularly in the field of mobility, what is your opinion?
Hydrogen is a solution which, coupled with others, will make the energy transition a success. Hydrogen solves use case and economic model issues, it allows energy to be stored and responds to energy and industrial sovereignty issues. In the field of mobility, hydrogen represents a real solution for massively decarbonizing heavy transport in particular, but is also now relevant for part of light transport, for example in certain cases for taxis or last mile logistics. And, in the same way that the scaling up of the two types of infrastructure must be thought out and executed in a coordinated manner, I am convinced that soon vehicles will be “hybrid”, 100% electric but with a rechargeable battery of reasonable and a fuel cell device (hydrogen). We are working with manufacturers and equipment manufacturers to accelerate the emergence of this type of platform.
The rise in electricity prices, and energy in general, requires us collectively to take on new challenges.
At Hype, the key word is pragmatism, which is why we do not exclude any option. Hype thus collaborates with renewable energy producers to secure its supply of green electricity, either via PPA contracts or via the co-location of electrolysers on wind or photovoltaic sites. Hype is also working with its partners to develop other types of green hydrogen production, particularly via thermolysis.
Today’s new challenges must serve as an accelerator. France has the means to become a leader in hydrogen: it controls the entire value chain, its innovation capabilities are recognized and numerous projects are being developed throughout the national territory and in Europe.
