RECAP: 5,000 Hydrogen Vehicle Challenge Framework Initiative – Workshop One

Last month, the Edmonton Region Hydrogen HUB brought together leaders from across Western Canada’s hydrogen value chain representing fleets, government, producers, OEMs, technology providers, academia and more for the first workshop of the 5,000 Hydrogen Vehicle Challenge Framework Initiative. Participants converged to inform the design of a strategy to implement the Challenge and offer insights into what is needed in their respective areas of industry for it to be successful.

The workshop began with brainstorming and identifying the major barriers, gaps, and opportunities to the Challenge facing each participant’s business area, as well as the value chain as a whole. The participants then weighed the gaps and set priorities for the next workshop to further define an action-oriented glidepath to deploying 5,000 hydrogen powered or dual fuel hydrogen vehicles.

Here are the actionable priorities the participants identified:

• Build a working consortium of value chain players to map out fueling station corridors and infrastructure, bridging an incentive programme designed by industry;
• Assess where public funding can help alleviate pain points in the ecosystem and improve economics of fuel cell vehicles. Could include fuel capacity credits, maintenance and repair credit, vehicle incentives, etc.;
• Collaborate with institutes and government to develop a training and certification programme to ensure adequate availability of maintenance technicians to service a growing hydrogen fleet;
• Negotiate and co-create a detailed deployment schedule to coordinate the deployment of vehicles with fueling stations;
• Develop a consensus fuel distribution strategy that tracks the development of the market to scale, considering liquid H₂ delivery, hub and spoke, and pipeline H₂ delivery;
• Develop and host public awareness and educational campaigns with government support;
• Form commercial agreements for clean fuel offtake and vehicle acquisition; and,
• Engage and educate fleets on their options for decarbonization with solutions for TCO and adoption.

As the workshop drew to a close, the message was clear: collaboration, shared responsibility, and urgent action are essential to achieving the goal of deploying 5,000 hydrogen vehicles in Western Canada by 2028. We’re building Canada’s roadmap to a net-zero future, but in order to rapidly accelerate the hydrogen economy, we need to take a coordinated, aggressive, and industry-led approach, informing the design of a programme that will accelerate hydrogen adoption in commercial transportation.

These priorities will inform the agenda for the next workshop, where participants will work together to address these challenges and leverage the opportunities identified. The next workshop will explore the critical roles of each stakeholder group, from government and fleet operators to infrastructure developers, technology providers, education, and academia.

About the 5,000 Hydrogen Vehicle Challenge

We’re creating Canada’s roadmap to a net-zero future. The ultimate goal of this challenge is to have 5,000 hydrogen or dual-fuel hydrogen vehicles on the road in Western Canada within five years. And if we prove that it works here, the same model can be used nationwide. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to make an impact on the global energy transition.

Join the Challenge and become a leader in sustainable transportation.

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