London (Platts)--3Apr2014/613 am EDT/1013 GMT

A GBP31-million ($51.6-million) project to develop hydrogen fuel cell-powered electric cars and hydrogen refueling stations across five EU member states was launched by the Mayor of London's Office Thursday.

The office said signatories to the HyFive project include five car manufacturers -- BMW, Daimler, Honda, Hyundai and Toyota -- and hydrogen fuel companies including Air Products, Copenhagen Hydrogen Network, ITM Power, Linde and OMV.

Other signatories include Element Energy, PE INTERNATIONAL, the Institute for Innovative Technology and the EU's Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking, which is funding the project.

Hydrogen filling stations are to be built in Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Austria and Italy, as well as in London.

Meanwhile locations are being sought for three electrolyzer-based hydrogen refuelling stations in London, one in Aarhus and in Odense (Denmark) and one in Innsbruck (Austria), the office said.

At the same time, some 110 hydro fuel cell cars are to be deployed in Bolzano, Copenhagen, Innsbruck, London, Munich, Stuttgart.

The refuelling stations are expected to be operational by 2015, by which time some of the car manufacturers will have started to put hydrogen-fueled electric cars on sale in some European markets, the office said.

The UK's ITM Power is to supply three electrolyser-based refueling stations to London under the project. The three rapid response grid balancing stations will be the first green hydrogen deployments in the city, ITM said.

The units produce hydrogen on site via electrolysis, using renewable power purchased from the grid.

"To sell this technology we need to show Londoners and the wider world that it is not science fiction," said Mayor of London Boris Johnson. "By building the vehicles and the filling stations and allowing people to kick the tyres we will be able to demonstrate that hydrogen is a viable option and that London is at the forefront of efforts to make it so."

--Henry Edwardes-Evans, henry.edwardes-evans@platts.com
--Edited by Jonathan Dart, jonathan.dart@platts.com

Similar stories appear in Power in Europe See more information at http://www.platts.com/Products/powerineurope

© 2014 Platts, The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. All rights reserved.  To subscribe or visit go to:  http://www.platts.com

http://www.platts.com/latest-news/electric-power/london/eu-hydrogen-fuel-cell-developers-sign-up-to-demonstrate-26765164