Italy: Toyota, CaetanoBus, Snam join forces to boost hydrogen mobility
Snam (and its subsidiary Snam4Mobility), Toyota (Toyota Motor Europe and Toyota Motor Italia) and CaetanoBus have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), with the aim of starting a wide-ranging collaboration to promote and accelerate the introduction of hydrogen-powered mobility. United by the belief that hydrogen plays a fundamental role in the decarbonization process of transportation, the companies will join forces and know-how to explore and develop projects aimed at enabling the adoption of hydrogen both for heavy and light transport.
“This collaboration aims to boost the use of hydrogen as a key energy vector to enable widespread decarbonization in the mobility sector. The synergies with car manufacturers and with the world of public transport, combined with Snam’s distinctive skills in the infrastructure field, will be decisive in accelerating the development of the hydrogen supply chain for the benefit of national and global climate objectives. With this agreement, we aim to build an alliance between operators in the energy and transport sectors to offer end users competitive sustainable hydrogen mobility solutions,” said Alessio Torelli, Chief Mobility Officer of Snam.
Luigi Ksawery Luca’, CEO of Toyota Motor Italia, commented: “We are very pleased to join forces with Snam and CaetanoBus, with whom we share the commitment to a more sustainable future. As a Toyota Group, we have always been committed at a global level to the creation of sustainable mobility, which is why we have been investing in hydrogen propulsion systems for over 25 years. In fact, we believe that hydrogen plays a crucial role in the decarbonization process of our society. The presence of an adequate hydrogen refueling infrastructure is a necessary condition for developing its full potential for mobility. For this it will be essential that the main players in the production and distribution system work in synergy, and this agreement moves exactly in this direction”.
Patrícia Vasconcelos, CEO of CaetanoBus added: “Collaborations like this are very important to unite different companies, with different products, but with the same goals and vision for the future: decarbonization and better lives for the people around the cities. CaetanoBus manufactures buses and coaches since 1946, and since 2018 is developing hydrogen-powered mobility solution. It has been a pleasure to learn and be inspired by Toyota’s practices and knowledge. This is another step into hydrogen society and to build an entire value chain.”
The agreement may lead to the definition of specific “end-to-end” hydrogen mobility projects to be implemented in Italy and in other European countries, to support and benefit public administrations, local communities, businesses and private entities. The initiatives may include the entire value chain: from hydrogen, from infrastructures for distribution and refueling to the introduction of fleets of buses, logistics vehicles and cars, thanks also to the availability of Toyota Group’s KINTO mobility services.
