Legacy established manufacturers like Mercedes, Volvo, Scania, and Iveco and others were joined by a wave of new entrants like Nikola, Hyzen, BYD offering new hydrogen buses and trucks. Many startups and innovative companies offer tailored solutions to retrofit buses, trucks or vans with hydrogen powertrain, whether it is a fuel cell + battery or internal combustion engine. France is one of the countries with a vibrant retrofitting market. Several innovative companies and startup emerged capitalising on the market opportunity, public support and interest, especially from local authorities, to convert existing fleet to hydrogen powered vehicles2. The following list provides a snapshot of key innovative companies that dominate the retrofit market and mostly developed their own in-house technologies:
ULEMCo – The UK
ULEMCo has developed a unique hydrogen dual-fuel approach called H2ICED®, which allows hydrogen to be mixed with diesel in conventional engines, displacing 30-70% of diesel consumption. They are collaborating with Oxfordshire County Council for fleet conversion where a contract was signed as part of a £10 million plan to renew their operational fleet5,6.
Clean Logistics – Germany
The medium-sized joint venture Clean Logistics was founded in 2019 by the investment company Höpen, Hary Logistics and Proton Motors to advance alternative drives for the logistics industry7. They convert diesel trucks, especially DAF XF 106 and Mercedes Actros MP4 tractor-trailers with over 100 retrofitted trucks till date and claims an extraordinary pipeline of 6 000 vehicles by 2027 (see next chapter on this company’s situation).
Quantron – USA/Germany
Quantron offer Q-Retrofit services, where they convert diesel vehicles ranging from 3.5 up to 49 tonnes, as well as medium and large buses. Under agreement with Ford Otosan, they retrofit Ford F-Max trucks with fuel cell powertrains. Quantron offers a “Quantron‑as‑a‑Service” platform in Europe, providing zero-emission transport solutions on a per‑kilometre basis8.
Arcola Energy – The UK
Now acquired by Ballard, they specialise in integrating hydrogen fuel cell technology into heavy-duty vehicles and other transport applications like Buses and Trucks. They convert fleets of buses and refuse vehicles to run on hydrogen power at their Enfield site. They have Retrofitted buses for Optare, Wrightbus, Arrival, and others. They introduced the A‑Drive platform, a scalable production-ready FC powertrain for heavy‑duty vehicles9.
GreenGT – Switzerland
GreenGT began working on retrofitting since 2015 with the design of a prototype vehicle, the Renault Trucks Maxity, for the French post office. The company was established through a collaboration between Symbio and Renault Trucks. In 2021, heavy vehicle development contracts were signed with 2 mass retail entities: Carrefour in France (44 tons trucks) and Migros in Switzerland (40 tons trucks).
GCK Mobility – France
GCK specialises in converting a wide range of heavy vehicles, including road vehicles (coaches, buses, vans, trucks), off-road equipment and marine yachts. They have partnered with Keolis to trial the conversion of a diesel coach (IVECO Crossway) to hydrogen. In February 2024, they reached 2 major milestones: they won a significant contract with Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region for the hydrogen retrofit of 50 coaches10, and they received road homologation in France for their retrofitted vehicles11.
Hyliko – France
Hyliko rent or lease both new and retrofitted H2 vehicles. Among their offerings is the Renault Trucks T chassis with a hydrogen fuel cell electric powertrain, developed by the same group’s sister company, GreenGT. Hyliko target to operate 3,500 heavy trucks by 203012, both new and retrofitted. As of October 2024, Hyliko operate 3 retrofitted trucks for material transportation.
SAFRA – France
Safra developed the H2-PACK® retrofit kit, which converts diesel coaches into hydrogen-electric powertrains. The kit includes a 350 kW DANA electric motor, a 100 kW Plastic Omnium fuel cell, and 6 hydrogen tanks storing 35 kg of hydrogen. In April 2024, the company started the deployment of 2 out of 15 intercity coaches (Mercedes Intouro) for the Occitanie region in France, the 13 remaining ones are to be delivered by end of 202413.
SYMBIO – France
Symbio is a joint venture between Faurecia and Michelin. It designs, produces, and markets fuel cell systems for light and commercial vehicles, buses and trucks. Its hydrogen vehicles travelled more than three million kilometres. It targets production of 200,000 StackPacks Fuel Cell systems per year in 2030 (NB: at least one per vehicle, depending on power needs)14.
EHM ICE H2 Motor – France
This startup of around 20 people, created in May 2022, propose a large Hydrogen Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) of 300 HP targeting buses and trucks. As of October 2024, the engine is still in development and testing, it hasn’t reached yet certification stage. Industry insiders estimate that H2 ICE engine won’t be on the market until 2027 or 2028. Among others, they target deployment in retrofitted trucks, buses and potentially marine applications. The expected price ranges from €100k to €150k according to economics of the potential demand and manufacturing.
