While the first hydrogen trucks are convincing users in practical operation, hylane is continuing to expand its rental business: With IVECO, the Cologne-based company was able to win an additional established manufacturer as a partner.
In addition, the logistics giant DB Cargo is now one of the hylane customers. The growth of the fleet is made possible by funding from the Federal Ministry for Digital Affairs and Transport (BMDV). hylane passes 100 percent of the funding on to its customers in the form of reduced rental rates.
Undersecretary Johannes Wieczorek handed over the funding decision in the amount of 25 million euros to the hylane management Sara Schiffer and Bernd Zens on May 9th at the transport logistic trade fair in Munich. “In order to achieve the climate goals, CO2 emissions in traffic must be significantly reduced,” says Wieczorek. “We are very happy to support hylane on the way to sustainable road transport.”
With the help of the grant, hylane will expand its fleet by 78 hydrogen trucks and keep rental rates low. hylane Managing Director Sara Schiffer: “With our rental model, we give companies easy access to climate-neutral mobility. We use the funding exclusively to reduce the rental rates for our users.” “And while the money is sometimes only paid out years after approval, hylane pays the full purchase price for the vehicles in advance for its tenants. For many small and medium-sized transport companies in particular, this would not be possible without further ado,” explains hylane Managing Director Bernd Zens.
New cooperation with strong partners
At the press event, hylane announced the new partnership with the commercial vehicle manufacturer IVECO: the two companies will work together to provide fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV). In addition to purchasing commercial vehicles, they cooperate in service. In the future, hylane customers will be able to have maintenance and repair work carried out at a few selected and certified workshops in the IVECO service network. Christian Sulser, Director Sales and Marketing at Iveco Magirus AG, commented: “hylane is one of our first partners in Germany who trust in our expertise in the field of fuel cell trucks – we look forward to a good cooperation!”
In addition, hylane has gained another prominent customer with DB Cargo Full Load Solutions (FLS). The leading transport and logistics company relies on the rental model from hylane when using climate-friendly trucks. The rented tractor units will initially be used in the Hamburg region.
Funded Pioneering
The hylane vehicles are being funded by the Federal Ministry for Digital Affairs and Transport with a total of 39.8 million euros as part of the directive on the promotion of light and heavy commercial vehicles with alternative, climate-friendly drives and the associated tank and charging infrastructure (KsNI). The funding guideline is coordinated by NOW GmbH, applications are approved by the Federal Office for Goods Transport.
After initial federal funding in 2021 of 14.8 million euros, hylane has already been able to procure 44 vehicles. By the end of 2024, the fleet should comprise 122 trucks.
You can find more information about hylane at www.hylane.de .
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