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Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.<\/span><\/p>\n Stellantis said it would end efforts to develop hydrogen vehicles as it focuses its resources on electric cars and hybrids to meet EU\u2019s tougher emissions standards.<\/p>\n The decision leaves Stellantis\u2019s hydrogen joint venture with Michelin and Forvia facing an uncertain future, with its partner companies warning of \u201cserious and immediate operational and financial consequences\u201d.<\/p>\n The move by the owner of the Peugeot, Fiat and Opel brands also means that only a handful of carmakers, including Toyota, Hyundai and BMW, remain committed to expanding the use of hydrogen fuel cells as higher costs impede widespread development outside of China.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe hydrogen market remains a niche segment, with no prospects of midterm economic sustainability,\u201d said Jean-Philippe Imparato, Stellantis\u2019 chief operating officer for Europe. \u201cWe must make clear and responsible choices to ensure our competitiveness.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n In a fuel cell, hydrogen reacts with oxygen to produce a flow of electricity, with water as the waste product. Hydrogen has a higher energy density than lithium batteries, making it particularly suitable for heavy vehicles such as trucks and buses.<\/p>\n But sales of hydrogen-powered vehicles have fallen flat, even for the biggest proponents such as Toyota. This is largely the result of the high cost of carbon-free hydrogen and the lack of filling stations for the gas, from which a fuel cell makes electricity to power the car.\u00a0<\/p>\n The hydrogen market remains a niche segment, with no prospects of midterm economic sustainability<\/p>\n Jean-Philippe Imparato, Stellantis COO<\/p>\n The EU\u2019s emissions targets have also forced other car companies to concentrate their investments in electric vehicles.<\/p>\n However, Oliver Zipse, BMW\u2019s chief executive, has argued that hydrogen should have a future because of its potential to create energy independence for Europe, especially as the world relies heavily on Chinese batteries for EV technology.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re not stupid. We\u2019re thinking, it\u2019s the only technology where you\u2019re completely independent,\u201d Zipse said. \u201cHydrogen, is it efficient? No, it\u2019s not efficient, but that\u2019s not the point. If you want to be independent, if you want that as a political aim, you don\u2019t care about efficiency.\u201d<\/p>\n Toyota has previously warned that hydrogen vehicles could suffer the same fate as battery-powered electric cars, with Chinese groups rapidly dominating supply chains and exports unless other countries step up investment in the technology.<\/p>\n In the case of Stellantis, the company had hoped to expand the sales of its hydrogen-powered vans through Symbio, a joint venture owned 33.3 per cent each by Stellantis, Michelin and Forvia.\u00a0<\/p>\n Recommended<\/p>\n Symbio, which has more than 650 employees, had counted on Stellantis as its main customer accounting for 80 per cent of its business volume, according to Forvia. Michelin said Stellantis had notified the company about its decision to stop investing in hydrogen in May.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThis unexpected, abrupt and unilateral decision is all the more surprising given that Stellantis had consistently positioned itself as a pioneer in this emerging market,\u201d Michelin said. \u201cMichelin\u2019s primary concern lies with the impact this will have on Symbio\u2019s employees, both in France and abroad.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Stellantis said it would end efforts to develop hydrogen vehicles as it focuses its resources on electric cars and hybrids to meet EU\u2019s tougher emissions standards. The decision leaves Stellantis\u2019s hydrogen joint venture with Michelin<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11059,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[918,4277,1056,4276,4275,720],"class_list":{"0":"post-11058","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-development","9":"tag-evs","10":"tag-focus","11":"tag-hydrogen","12":"tag-stellantis","13":"tag-vehicles"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11058"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11058\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}