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Hype partners with Akuo to deploy vehicle fleets and a network of green hydrogen stations for logistics professionals in the Paris region

11/01/2022

  • Hype strengthens its position as a catalyst for hydrogen mobility beyond taxi use by investing in the Last Mile project initially developed by Akuo.
  • By 2024, Hype, supported by Akuo, will deploy a green hydrogen mobility ecosystem dedicated to last-mile players, including hydrogen-powered vehicle fleets and a network of green hydrogen stations in the Paris region.
  • Hype and Akuo, with Ecolotrans and the support of Banque des Territoires, are also announcing the launch of the “Club H24 for Paris”, which aims at accelerating the improvement of air and noise quality in the Paris region between now and the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

Paris, January 10, 2022

Given the public health emergency of air and noise pollution and the challenges of decarbonising transport, Hype, a pioneer in hydrogen mobility founded by Mathieu Gardies in 2015, and Akuo, an independent French producer of renewable energy, co-founded by Éric Scotto and Patrice Lucas in 2007, are combining their initiatives in the Paris region with the Last Mile and H24byHype projects. The combination of these two projects will enable Hype to deploy1 at least 20 high-capacity stations (1,000 kg/day each) and six smaller stations in the Paris region by 2024, thus ensuring a coherent development of station networks and uses around Paris, with a density and scale fully adapted to demand.

As part of the partnership established with Akuo, Hype, via its subsidiary Hype Assets, is investing in the Last Mile project. Initially developed by Akuo, this project for a shared green hydrogen mobility ecosystem for last-mile delivery players includes the deployment in the Paris region by 2024 of hydrogen vehicle fleets and a network of 16 green hydrogen stations.

The Last Mile project is supported by ADEME, the Ile-de-France Region and the European Union (CEF programme – Connecting Europe Facility) via public subsidies. The initiative also has the support of Banque des Territoires, a shareholder of Hype and key partner of the Last Mile project, which thus confirms its strong commitment to hydrogen mobility.

The Last Mile project reinforces the H24byHype project submitted by Hype Assets in September 2021 to ADEME as part of the “Hydrogen Territorial Ecosystems” call for projects. The aim of these two complementary initiatives is to create the first hydrogen mobility ecosystem for the Paris region between 2022 and 2024, with the Olympic and Paralympic Games (JOP) in sight, while facilitating and accelerating the most promising uses of hydrogen mobility, namely the deployment of 10,000 Hype taxis, light and heavy commercial vehicles, buses and service vehicles such as refuse-collection trucks.

Finally, Hype, Akuo and Ecolotrans, with the support of Banque des Territoires, are announcing the launch of the H24 Club for Paris, whose objective is to identify and promote concrete short-term entrepreneurial and citizen initiatives to improve air and noise quality in the Paris region between now and the 2024 Olympic Games.

“We are very proud of this partnership with Akuo, which is reinforced by the one announced with Ecolotrans on the same day and follows those announced on 14th December with HRS and McPhy. This announcement confirms the very strong momentum of the project led by Hype. The integration of the Last Mile project into the Hype ecosystem completes and reinforces our ambition to organise the transition to zero-emission mobility for as many players as possible, as quickly as possible. Hype’s objective is to enable its partners to benefit from its unique expertise across the entire hydrogen mobility ecosystem, both in terms of vehicle types and the production and distribution infrastructures, in order to pool and rapidly increase usage volumes and provide complete solutions
for cities wishing to invest in hydrogen mobility.” said Mathieu Gardies, President of Hype

“When we initiated the Last Mile project, we were pioneers: few people were betting on hydrogen. Today,
hydrogen is everywhere, but if it is not green, we will collectively failed. In Hype, we have found a quality partner
capable of multiplying the force of action of the Last Mile project tenfold and showing that green hydrogen can
be the norm.” added Eric Scotto, President of Akuo

Read the press release from Hype here.

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