Alstom and Liebherr to team up on hydrogen fuel cells

The companies will be working together for the purpose of optimizing the technology.

Alstom has announced that it has signed an agreement with Liebherr-Aerospace & Transportation SAS that will have the companies working together to research and optimize hydrogen fuel cells.

The H2 strategy Alstom has already shared aligns well with this new collaboration with Liebherr.

The goal of Alstom’s H2 strategy is to move in greener direction along its existing mission to innovate and pioneer smarter mobility solutions. On the other hand, Liebherr’s specialty is in the manufacturing of fuel cell compressors. It is developing air management tech that is especially appropriate for hydrogen fuel cells.

The companies intend to work together to investigate the way H2 systems can be optimized, including enhancing their durability and reliability, boosting their power density, and shrinking their cost.

This is the latest of several steps Alstom has already taken in its focus on hydrogen fuel cells.

Alstom purchased Helion Hydrogen Power in April, bringing the high-powered fuel cell start-up into its fold. Now it is collaborating with Liebherr to benefit from that company’s broad experience in the technology for aerospace and automotive applications. Liebherr is a turbocharger supplier for H2 system integrators, and its role in reducing rail transport emissions is expected to be considerable.

Last year, Alstom and the Società nazionale Metanodotti (Snam) entered into an agreement. Snam is Italy’s top natural gas transport firm. The agreement between the companies focuses on H2-powered trains and associated infrastructure. Alstom’s role in that collaboration will be for the manufacturing and maintenance of the H2-powered trains in both new and retrofitted forms. Snam’s role will be the development of the production, transport, and refueling infrastructure for the locomotives.

“Our ambition is to accelerate the adoption of hydrogen in the rail industry and to develop innovative solutions in the context of the greening of heavy mobility, including regional trains, shunting locomotives and freight locomotives,” said Alstom France President Jean-Baptiste Eyméoud.

Alstom’s recent agreements with respect to hydrogen fuel cells also extends to a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Plastic Omnium, a top H2 mobility player, for the development of high-end rail H2 storage systems.