Canadian fuel-cell firm Loop Energy is to open a manufacturing facility in the UK to meet growing customer demand for fuel-cell electric vehicles in the UK and Europe.

The facility will be based in Grays, Essex near the headquarters of UK truck manufacturer Tevva Motors. Loop last month signed a multi-year agreement to supply Tevva with fuel cells for its vehicles.

Tevva intends to produce 3,000 trucks per year by 2023 and expects the size of the global electric truck market to grow from $1.15bn in 2020 to $14.19bn by 2027. It has raised $140mn in funding in the past two years to meet these expected demand levels.

“We are excited to open a new facility in the UK, where both the private and public sector is quickly growing around decarbonising commercial vehicles,” says Loop CEO Ben Nyland.

3,000/yr – Tevva’s 2023 truck production target

Loop expects to service a truck and bus market of upwards of $15bn in size over the next 2-3 years in the UK and Europe, with the UK facility operating as the local support centre for these vehicles.

Loop’s technology won a competitive tender process by Tevva in 2021, resulting in an initial order upon which the new deal expands. The supply deal runs until 2023 and is worth $12mn.

Key demand vector

Hydrogen fuel cells are a particularly attractive technology to policymakers because they can help reduce diesel emissions along busy roads, particularly in urban areas. They can also be supplied by smaller, modular electrolysers, meaning rollout can happen without the need for FIDs on large production projects.

From 2030, the sale of new petrol and diesel cars will be banned in the UK, while the sale of some hybrid cars will be allowed to continue until 2035. The EU Parliament has voted to back a European Commission proposal for a ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2035.

The UK’s hydrogen strategy foresees up to 6TWh of demand for low-carbon hydrogen from transport in 2030 and 140TWh by 2050.

“By 2030, we envisage hydrogen to be in use across a range of transport modes, including HGVs, buses and rail,” says the UK strategy.

The EU hydrogen strategy

The EU is legislating on the issue in the Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation proposal, part of its ‘Fit for 55’ package. As it stands, the proposal would require member states to install almost 2,000 hydrogen refuelling stations by 2030.

A total of 124 were available across ten EU countries in 2020—the last year for which complete data is available—but 17 member states did not have any at all.

---

Author: Tom Young