EU clears the air for clean hydrogen cars

The full European Parliament adopted yesterday, by a large majority, a report that provides the approval of motor vehicles that run on hydrogen.

This endorsement of the Parliament, which comes after the political agreement reached with the Council of the European Union in June, will mean that soon a new European directive, which will include cars with hydrogen propulsion systems, will be approved by the EU and will facilitate the marketing of the cars in the medium term.

The idea of the European Commission is that the manufacturing standards of these new vehicles will be harmonised, so as not to create different fragmented markets within Europe which would be an obstacle to intra-EU trade and viable manufacturing.

The idea is to reduce CO2 emissions into the atmosphere caused by traditional fossil fuels, but it will be necessary to ensure that the hydrogen with which these new engines will be powered, needs to have been produced from sources of renewable energy.

The commissioner of Industry, Gunter Verheugen, said yesterday that the decision of the European Parliament on hydrogen vehicles will mean that Europe will have cleaner air and allow reducing dependence on fossil fuels.

At present, a manufacturer that puts a hydrogen vehicle on the market in one European country finds that there are then difficulties in marketing the same vehicle in another Member State.

Around 14% of the EU’s total carbon footprint derives from vehicle emissions, so the organisation is hoping that a big trend towards this new fuel will have a significant effect on emissions for the continent.

Hydrogen is a very clean energy vector, used as fuel in internal combustion engines and fuel cells, as it produces no pollutant emission of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.