Call to EU to maintain ambition on hydrogen vehicles

H2Accelerate – a collaborative body comprising vehicle manufacturers and fuel providers focused on the use of hydrogen to decarbonise heavy-duty road transport – has called on the European Commission (EC) to maintain its ambition for the deployment of hydrogen refuelling stations.

The plea comes ahead of a review, required by the end of this year, of the Alternative Fuel Infrastructure Regulation (AFIR) – an EU law that sets binding targets for publicly available charging and refuelling facilities on member states.

The group, whose members include Daimler Truck and Volvo Group, is calling for these mandatory targets to be maintained, particularly for hydrogen refuelling stations in urban nodes and along the core multimodal Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) – and wants the EC to support member states in creating schemes to stimulate AFIR-compliant infrastructure.

It is also advocating targeted changes to the rules which it says would better align the minimum requirements for hydrogen refuelling stations with the operational needs of heavy-duty trucking.

H2Accelerate highlights the success of AFIR in driving infrastructure deployment in certain member states, though it acknowledges that “progress at a pan-European level is not yet on track”.

“The Netherlands’ subsidy for hydrogen in mobility, SWiM, has supported the coordinated rollout of trucks and infrastructure, enabling early investments in stations while limiting the risk of underutilisation,” said the group.

“Following the success of SWiM, the German Federal Ministry for Transport implemented, in January 2026, a €220 million SWiM-like joint hydrogen refuelling station and truck subsidy scheme to deliver on its AFIR-mandated network.

“As such, maintaining AFIR’s existing targets for zero-emission refuelling infrastructure is essential to provide regulatory certainty and help to secure investor confidence.

“At a minimum, the current level of ambition must be maintained, while targeted adaptations are recommended to ensure hydrogen refuelling infrastructure is better aligned with the operational needs of heavy-duty vehicles.”

The body emphasises the active development by major European heavy truck manufacturers of both battery-electric and hydrogen-powered trucks, and the delivery of the first hydrogen-powered vehicles to customers via early funded projects, including through its own H2Accelerate Trucks initiative which is providing 125 heavy-duty vehicles.

But it points out that Europe is not yet on track to deploy zero-emission vehicles and infrastructure at the scale needed to meet decarbonisation targets, and warns that any reduction in ambition risks “sending a negative market signal” which could stall investment and increase costs for early transitioners.

Hannah Bryson-Jones, spokesperson for the H2Accelerate collaboration, said: “AFIR is a cornerstone policy for the development of Europe’s zero-emission trucking ecosystem.

“Maintaining its current ambition reinforces the regulatory certainty needed to unlock investment in hydrogen refuelling infrastructure, support vehicle deployment, and give fleet operators the confidence to transition to zero-emission trucks.

“With the right policy framework in place, Europe can build a reliable, interoperable refuelling network and remain on track towards a competitive, decarbonised road freight system.”