Stellantis to join Michelin-Faurecia hydrogen JV Symbio | Popgen Tech

Stellantis has entered into talks with French suppliers Faurecia and Michelin to buy a “substantial” stake in their Symbio joint venture, a fuel cell system maker for hydrogen mobility, the three companies said.

Last year, Stellantis launched hydrogen-powered mid-size vans from the Citroen, Peugeot and Opel brands in collaboration with Symbio. It aims to expand its hydrogen offering to large vans in Europe in 2024 and in the US in 2025, “while further exploring opportunities for heavy-duty trucks.”

Car manufacturers and suppliers believe hydrogen fuel cell systems will first take hold in the commercial vehicle market because there are few gas stations for private cars. In contrast, a fleet operator can install hydrogen stations at its depots, and the vehicles can be refueled at the end of the day.

Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares said in a statement Friday that Symbio’s technical roadmap “matches perfectly” with the automaker’s hydrogen deployment plans in Europe and the US.

“This step will advance the speed of development to bring low-emission products to our customers beyond traditional electric vehicles,” he said in the statement.

Stellantis entry “will accelerate and globalize Symbio’s growth,” Faurecia CEO Patrick Koller said.

Earlier this year, Symbio announced its HyMotive project to accelerate its industrialization, with a plan to increase total production capacity in France to 100,000 systems per year by 2028, while creating 1,000 additional jobs.

The transaction, for which no financial details were provided, is expected to be completed in the first half of next year, the three companies said in the statement.

Symbio was founded in 2019. PSA Group, which merged with Fiat Chrysler to form Stellantis, had an indirect stake in Symbio via its controlling stake in Faurecia. That interest was liquidated before the merger was completed in January 2021.

Reuters contributed to this report