Hydrogen+. “HY” for hydrogen, “VIA” for road, to offer a new path towards hydrogen mobility. This is the name chosen by the car manufacturer Renault and the hydrogen specialist Plug Power associated 50/50 for this company created in 2021. Is it a hydrogen subsidiary of Renault or a new manufacturer?
David Holderbach. HYVIA’s ambition is to become a major player in carbon-free mobility, by offering a unique and complete ecosystem across the entire value chain: a wide range of utility vehicles, but also the production and distribution of hydrogen.
HYVIA is a joint venture between two leaders, Renault Group and Plug Power, based in France.
Renault is a pioneer in electric vehicles and has developed real expertise over the past 15 years. Renault is notably the European leader in electric utility vehicles. For these intensive utility uses, Renault has always been interested in hydrogen-related technologies and wanted to offer a range of hydrogen utility vehicles combining decarbonization, rapid recharging times and increased autonomy, complementary to electric vehicles.
Plug Power is a global leader in the hydrogen sector with 20 years of experience and over 40,000 fuel cells sold and hydrogen charging stations that provide over 40 tonnes of hydrogen per day.
The meeting of these two leaders, with complementary strengths and skills, quickly allows for concrete achievements. This is how HYVIA was created in June 2021, with the aim of offering turnkey mobility solutions: production, storage, distribution of green hydrogen and a wide range of utility vehicles. Solutions that will meet the new needs of companies, major accounts, fleets or communities to support the energy transition.
Will HYVIA be part of the entire hydrogen ecosystem, beyond vehicle construction?
HYVIA’s core business is to sell hydrogen vehicles. But in addition to vehicles, we will be able to offer our customers a turnkey solution according to their specific needs: hydrogen charging stations, electrolysers as well as financing and maintenance services.
And the entire HYVIA ecosystem is based in France: production of our vehicles in Batilly, integration of the fuel cell in Gretz-Armainvilliers, head office in Villiers-Saint-Frédéric and, above all, assembly of fuel cells and hydrogen recharging stations at the Renault Flins factory.
What range of vehicles will you offer?
Our first objective is to offer three hydrogen vehicles for transporting goods and people by 2022. I remind you of the advantages of hydrogen mobility: zero emissions, increased autonomy and three-minute recharge time. For the transport of goods, we will offer a Master Van H2-TECH, a 12 m van3 with a range of up to 500 km and a 19 m H2-TECH Master Chassis-Cab3 with a range of 250 km. In addition, we will also offer a Master Citybus H2-TECH for the transport of 15 passengers with a range of almost 300 km.
How can the hydrogen ecosystem be implemented due to additional costs, particularly those linked to vehicles?
Hydrogen is an emerging and promising sector. The regulatory and legislative context is encouraging for its development. France, with the climate law or the recovery plan, as well as Europe are embarking on a major hydrogen plan.
This context is pushing communities and businesses towards carbon-free mobility solutions. The majority of automobile manufacturers are following this path. This movement is a guarantee of cost reduction.
Furthermore, the cost of producing green hydrogen will fall due to the massification of production and better energy performance.
