H2Ouest

Transport / Distribution
Off-road mobility
Land and rail mobility

La Roche-sur-Yon & Le Mans, Vendée & Sarthe, Atlantic France

Project start date : 2019

H2Ouest is a pioneering operational ecosystem being developed in Atlantic France since 2019, under the impetus of SYDEV, the Vendée Energy and Equipment Syndicate, Lhyfe, a renewable hydrogen producer, the ACO (Automobile Club de l’Ouest) and Le Mans Métropole, along with numerous players from the Vendée and Atlantic France. Its aim is to develop a renewable hydrogen ecosystem in Atlantic France, using a short, reproducible cycle to decarbonise mobility. To achieve this, it is simultaneously organising the production and distribution of green hydrogen and its local use.

The project includes a network of distribution stations throughout the region:

  • La Roche sur Yon (opening in 2021)
  • Les Sables d’Olonne (opening in 2023)
  • Challans (opening in 2023)
  • Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie (opening soon)
  • Le Mans (opening of a 1st station by the ACO in 2020, a second station by the company Hype with the support of the Metropole du Mans opened in 2023)

In addition, 30 vehicles will be made available for professional use:

  • Le Mans Métropole: 10 articulated buses + 8 refuse collection vehicles
  • Communauté de Communes du Pays de Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie: 2 refuse collection vehicles
  • Communauté de Communes Challans-Gois: 1 refuse collection vehicle
  • Département de Vendée: 1 car, 1 retrofitted tipper and 2 light commercial vehicles
  • SDIS 85: 1 light commercial vehicle
  • Agglomeration of La Roche-sur-Yon: 1 standard bus
  • Les Sables d’Olonne: 2 buses and 2 refuse collection vehicles
  • Transport Garriou: 1 converted 44-tonne tractor unit
  • ACO: 1 car and 1 light commercial vehicle

Progress of the project

  1. Prototyping phase (feasibility, design)
  2. Industrialization phase
  3. Series production/operation phase

Project partners