From Fountain Fuel
In the Netherlands, more than 40 million euros in subsidies have been awarded to transport companies and hydrogen refueling stations.
Fountain Fuel’s collaboration as a key to success
Fountain Fuel is one of the parties that participated in the subsidy process. The ‚Hydrogen Cluster Sustainable Mobility‘ partnership they set up with more than 60 logistics companies and multiple vehicle manufacturers will jointly receive more than 16 mil
lion euros this year. In 2024, this same partnership (which has been significantly expanded this year) already received 8.2 million euros in subsidies.
Stephan Bredewold, director of Fountain Fuel, says: „We already o er options for e-charging and hydrogen refueling through our Amersfoort station, Rotterdam The Hague Airport and Nijmegen. Thanks to the award of this subsidy, we can scale up and further expand the network with the construction of multiple locations. It is important for the transport sector to expand the number of refueling locations. We do this by building a network in the Netherlands and subsequentlyalso in Europe in the vicinity of cities with zero-emission zones, along TEN-T corridors and at logistics hotspots.
Hydrogen in mobility needs well-functioning stations in the vicinity of relevant customers. Only then will people consider switching to hydrogen. We call that “Connecting the Dots”. A comparison with the rollout of mobile telephony in the 1990s is obvious. The demand for mobile phones grew exponentially, especially around transmission towers.
In the coming period, we will strengthen cooperation with various OEMs in order to increase the range of vehicles (models) and the scale of production, so that the demand for models from the market can also be met in the period 2026-2029-2032. We look for solutions that are complementary to battery-electric; Given the acute grid congestion, it is urgent that there are more options than just ‚e-charging‘.
Why refuel with hydrogen and e-charging at the same time?
Electrification is in full swing. Many transport companies are now investing in the use of battery-electric trucks, such as Cornelissen for Albert Heijn. However, there are situations in which the battery vehicle is less suitable. For example, when double shifts are worked, when many kilometers are driven or when flexibility regarding deployment is required. After all, refueling with hydrogen takes just as long as refueling with diesel. Van der Vlist, a transport company from Groot-Ammers that specializes in exceptional, large and heavy transport, announced in August that it would invest in several MAN hydrogen trucks for these reasons.
However, there is another scenario where hydrogen is chosen as a fuel: grid congestion. This is extremely worrying in the Netherlands. Almost all major grid operators are seeing long-term delays or making statements that grid congestion is an unsolvable problem, essentially meaning there is not enough power to charge all electric vehicles. Waiting times for entrepreneurs to get the necessary grid connection are up to 10 years.
Many companies in the Netherlands want to become more sustainable, but are unable to ‘green their fleet’ with battery-electric vehicles only, due to insufficient electrical capacity. The use of hydrogen in their fleets allows them to already become more sustainable without delays. The vehicles that are adopted by the entrepreneurs range from minivan to heavy-duty truck and everything in between.
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