Air Liquide and Faurecia signed a joint development agreement to design and produce on-board liquid hydrogen storage systems for the automotive industry.

Liquid hydrogen storage for fuel cell vehicles is well-suited for long-haul applications; with this technology, the amount of hydrogen stored is double that of gaseous hydrogen. As a consequence, heavy duty trucks operating on liquid hydrogen have twice the autonomy of those operating on gaseous hydrogen, and benefit from a short refueling time and optimized payload.

The partnership will leverage the companies’ complementary competencies from their respective core businesses which will be fundamental to accelerate the technology’s time-to-market.

• Air Liquide will bring its recognized expertise across the entire liquid hydrogen value chain, including extreme cryogenics, storage technology, refueling interface and infrastructure know-how.

• Faurecia will bring its architecture and systems integration expertise, its recognized skill in automotive testing and simulation, its global automotive industrial know-how and footprint, as well as its strong intimacy with vehicle manufacturers.

By 2030, fuel cell vehicle production could represent 2.5 million vehicles, of which 20% could be commercial trucks, the partners said. Due to intensive usage, by 2030, heavy-duty vehicles could represent close to 60% of the hydrogen consumption for mobility markets.