Stellantis is keeping its bet on hydrogen even as it builds battery plants with a one-third stake in Symbio, a hydrogen fuel cell company. The other share holders are Faurecia and Michelin, each holding an equal portion.
Peugeot had developed a method of building the same car with either battery-electric or hydrogen fuel-cell power sources.
Symbio plans to start making 50,000 fuel cells per year by 2025 at its Saint Fons plant, which starts production in the second half of this year. Overall, Symbio plans to make 100,000 fuel cell systems per year by 2028, all in France, creating 1,000 jobs in the country.
While Stellantis has not indicated any future for fuel cells in its North American cars and SUVs, the company did release plans some time ago for hydrogen-powered Ram heavy duty trucks. Stellantis did not say whether these would be powered by the Cummins B-engine, which Cummins is adapting for hydrogen and other fuels, or by fuel cells.
