Plastic Omnium New Energies division ramps up focus on hydrogen mobility

Plastic Omnium’s (Île-de-France, France) New Energies division specializing in hydrogen mobility for all forms of transportation continues its expansion in the wake of its first commercial successes. The division now employs 300 people, more than 200 of them engineers and researchers, to support its ambitious growth targets and help deliver its target revenue of €3 billion by 2030.

According to Plastic Omnium, the division has invested around €300 million since 2015, and now has the expertise, product portfolio and production capacity needed to cover the entire hydrogen value chain.

The following will be housed under the New Energies division:

• International R&D centers in Europe and China dedicated to Plastic Omnium’s three product lines (hydrogen storage vessels, fuel cells and hydrogen integrated systems);
• Production capacity in Herentals, Belgium, for 10,000 hydrogen vessels a year for trucks, buses and trains;
• The company’s first hydrogen vessel production line, operational in 2023 with annual capacity of 60,000 units, which will manufacture tanks for the Hyundai Staria at the Gyeongju, South Korea, plant;
• Plastic Omnium’s first hydrogen vessel production line in the U.S., planned for 2023;
• Production capacity in Dettingen, Germany, for 10,000 fuel cells a year as a result of EKPO, the joint venture with ElringKlinger (Stuttgart, Germany);
• An integrated hydrogen system assembly line, with an annual capacity in excess of 1,000 systems, at the Plastic Omnium plant in Wels, Austria, operational in late 2022.

Moreover, efforts to attract new talents to strengthen hydrogen expertise continue with the appointment of two new executives under the direction of Marc Perraudin, president and CEO of the New Energies division:

• Laurent Carme joined Plastic Omnium on Nov. 22, 2021 as COO, New Energies. He was previously CEO of McPhy Energy (France), a Plastic Omnium partner specializing in hydrogen production and distribution equipment.
• Ken Wang was appointed Asia managing director, New Energies, as of Dec. 1, 2021. He was previously VP China and general manager South China at Air Products and Chemical Inc. (Allentown, Pa., U.S.), specialists in industrial gases and clean energy.

“The creation of a hydrogen division with its own dedicated teams and industrial and commercial capacities marks a new stage in the group’s strategy, illustrating its determination to accelerate international growth following its recent commercial successes, notably with Hyundai and Alstom,” says Laurent Favre, CEO of Plastic Omnium. “Plastic Omnium will continue to actively seek out strategic partnerships, similar to those agreed recently with AVL and McPhy, as part of its drive to strengthen its technology leadership.”