A H2 Logic mobile refuelling station that is used for cars and forklifts.

H2 Logic will establish a large-scale hydrogen refuelling station in Oslo as part of the EUR19.5 million (USD24.8 million) H2MOVES fuel cell demonstration project involving Daimler and Fiat fuel cell vehicles that was made public last week.

In 2011, 10 Mercedes Benz B-class F0CELL cars from Daimler, two Alfa Romeo MiTo fuel cell vehicles from Centro Ricerche Fiat and five electric city cars with fuel cell range extension from H2 Logic will operate daily in Oslo and on specific tours in southern Norway and further afield in the Scandinavian region.

The project is funded by private companies and the Norwegian and Danish governments.

H2MOVES project co-ordinators say the aim of the demonstration is to advance the commercialisation of hydrogen for transport in Scandinavia.

"These initiatives will help take yet another crucial step towards the mass production of electric vehicles with fuel cells around 2015 and the establishment of sufficient infrastructure to provide renewable hydrogen," says Dr Ulrich Bünger, project coordinator of H2MOVES Scandinavia.

"One of the key technology contributions in the fight against climate change will be the electrification of the drive train in cars and city buses. The combination of batteries and fuel cells allow the drivers to enjoy the same range, and even better comfort and performance than commercially available vehicles provided today," adds Dr Steffen Møller‐Holst, project coordinator of H2MOVES Oslo.

H2 Logic's hydrogen refuelling station will comply with SAE J2601, the latest international hydrogen refuelling standard that ensures safe and fast refuelling. The hydrogen supply will be based on a combination of onsite production and trucked-in hydrogen.

During the project, some of the fuel cell vehicles will be used on a European hydrogen vehicle demonstration tour, co-ordinated by Hydrogen Sweden in collaboration with the European Regions' and Municipalities' Partnership on Hydrogen and Fuell Cells. H2 Logic will develop a mobile hydrogen refuelling concept for the demonstration tours.

TÜV SÜD of Germany and SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden will conduct a safety and certification study to identify the certification gaps in Scandinavia to accelerate full commercialisation of vehicles and fuelling stations.

The H2MOVES project is the first large-scale demonstration project supported by the newly established European Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking Program. The latter has a total budget of up to EUR1 billion (USD1.271 billion) to be invested by 2014.

Mikael Sloth, H2 Logic's business development manager, told Forkliftaction.com News early this year that the fuel cell solutions provider has "many activities ongoing and under preparation" for fuel cell forklifts but is not disclosing them yet. (We reported last year that H2 Logic is working with forklift manufacturer DanTruck A/S to develop a second-generation hydrogen forklift (Forkliftaction.com News #428).)