TotalEnergies and Air Liquide are partnering to develop a network of over 100 stations geared towards heavy-duty vehicles on major European road corridors.
The two companies will jointly manage the 50/50 jv to invest, build and operate these stations, as well as procure hydrogen from the market and dispense it to transport customers.
The stations will be located on the major European roads in France, Benelux and Germany and will be under the TotalEnergies brand.
As such, it will lead to the creation of a major player in hydrogen refuelling solutions.
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“As pioneers in hydrogen mobility, we are convinced of the necessity to start building now a heavy-duty network that will benefit our customers” says Thierry Pflimlin, President Marketing & Services at TotalEnergies.
“This new partnership with Air Liquide will enable us to continue our development across the entire hydrogen value chain.”
Hydrogen is considered key for supporting the decarbonisation of mobility, particularly public and heavy vehicles and the initiative is expected to help facilitate access.
Matthieu Giard, Vice President and Executive Committee Member of the Air Liquide Group, supervising the Hydrogen activities, underlines this, saying that to promote hydrogen’s widespread use, it is imperative to accelerate the development of refuelling infrastructures and to offer vehicle manufacturers and transport operators a sufficiently dense network of stations.
“It is precisely the ambition of this joint venture, which will benefit from the complementary expertise of Air Liquide and TotalEnergies,” he states.
TotalEnergies will contribute its expertise in the operation and management of station networks and the distribution of energies to business-to-business customers.
Air Liquide will contribute with its expertise in technologies and its mastery of the entire hydrogen value chain.
The joint venture startup is subject to regulatory and other procedures and is expected to be established in 2023.