Symbio FCell to deliver 1000 Renault Kangoo ZE-H2 vehicles in 2016
European fuel cell system company, Symbio FCell has announced it has plans to deliver 1000 Renaults Kangoo electric vehicles to help increase market sales. The car, which is powered by a hydrogen Fuel Cell range-extender will hopefully see sales rise &nbsp;from the current 50 units to 200 units by next year through partnering with its co-shareholder Michelin to help with the mass-production of the vehicles. The plan comes under the Hyway program which was initiated in 2014 for testing a fleet of fuel cell vehicles and hydrogen fuelling stations in Grenoble and Lyon.&nbsp;
European fuel cell system provider Symbio FCell says it will deliver more than 1,000 Kangoo ZE-H2 vehicles in 2016. The Kangoo ZE-H2 is a Renault Kangoo ZE Light commercial vehicle (LCV) powered by a hydrogen Fuel Cell Range-Extender. ( Earlier post .) The company says it has supplied more than 50 units to date, with 200 expected for the full year.

To meet this significant increase in demand in the market, Symbio FCell relies on the expertise and support of its co-shareholder Michelin to mass-produce its hydrogen fuel cell systems.

The HyWay project reached another important milestone with 21 new Kangoo ZE-H2 utility vehicles, now fully operational in Grenoble. This comes in addition to the vehicles already successfully deployed in Lyon. HyWay is the largest fleet of electric/hydrogen utility vehicles currently operated on a daily basis in Europe.

With the financial backing of ADEME (French national energy management), the Rhône-Alpes regional government and the European Funds FEDER, this project establishes a unique and innovative model of simultaneous deployment of hydrogen stations serving multi-customers captive fleets. This deployment model is recommended in the French Hydrogen Mobility study.

This project can be easily replicated across Europe, the company says, and is increasingly well followed with nearly 30 cities in France having already applied. The first deployments have received financial contributions from Regions, ADEME, Europe FCH-JU2, and CEF/Ten-T.

Following the first deployments initiated in 2015, some major operators are planning to extend their deployments to a few hundred vehicles in each of their fleets. The new developments will be based on the simultaneous implementation of commercial vehicle fleets, according to the H2 Mobility France cluster model. In 2016, those vehicles will be equipped with the latest Fuel Cell Stack developed by Michelin, in a more powerful system with extended functionality. To support the deployment at European level, a 700 bar Range Extender version will be available early 2016.