Europe's hydrogen refuelling infrastructure for trucks and buses growing at faster pace than sales of those vehicles
Source：hydrogeninsight
The number of hydrogen refuelling points available for trucks and buses reached a record high in the first three quarters of this year, but the number of new registrations has not kept pace.
This means that the number of registered heavy commercial vehicles per 350-bar pump (which almost exclusively serve trucks and buses) is now the lowest it has ever been, according to new EU statistics.
The figures from the European Commission’s European Alternative Fuels Observatory (EAFO) also show that the number of hydrogen-powered vans on EU roads has actually shrunk slightly over the past two years, with zero new registrations since 2023.
According to the EAFO, the number of 350-bar (low-pressure) hydrogen filling points in the EU has grown from 114 at the end of 2024 to 150 at the end of June 2025.
But the number of buses and trucks able to use these facilities has grown at a slower pace.
Only 39 new H2 buses and 52 trucks were registered in the EU in the first nine months of this year*, compared to 110 and 104, respectively in 2024.
So while there were 40.53 H2 heavy vehicles per suitable refuelling point in 2024, that figure has now fallen to 32.39, the lowest level since records began in 2016.
The increase in low-pressure hydrogen filling points is due to the shift in sentiment towards H2 as a fuel for heavy commercial vehicles rather than fuel-cell cars, and the EU’s Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation (AFIR), which became EU law in September 2023.
AFIR requires the 27 member states to ensure that publicly accessible H2 filling stations — capable of serving both heavy-duty and light vehicles (ie, 350 and 700 bar) — are set up in every “urban node” and every 200km along the core routes of the planned Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) by 2030. The TEN-T core network links “urban nodes” — an EU term for 424 major cities in the bloc with ports, airports and rail terminals — across Europe.
Germany now has the most low-pressure hydrogen refuelling points in the EU, with 47, closely followed by France (46), the Netherlands (27), Poland (8), Sweden (7), Belgium (5). Spain (4), Italy (2), Czechia (2), Denmark (1), and Hungary (1).
The pace of registrations for fuel-cell cars is also shrinking in the EU, with only 396 units registered in the first nine months of this year, compared to 916 in 2024.
This corresponds to 28.92 cars (and vans) per high-pressure (700 bar) H2 filling point, down from 29.81 in 2024 (and a high of 110.77 in 2019).
The number of high-pressure (700 bar) filling points in the EU increased slightly from 155 to 168 at the end of September 2024, according to EAFO figures.
Hydrogen Insight understands that several hundred hydrogen cars would be needed per high-pressure filling point to make the facilities profitable, whereas a few dozen trucks or buses would be needed to make low-pressure H2 refuelling points profitable, because they buy far more hydrogen per fill and refuel more often.
The more unprofitable hydrogen filling stations are, the more likely they are to close down, and the fewer refuelling points available, the fewer hydrogen-powered vehicles are likely to be sold.
However, AFIR does require member states to ensure that hydrogen filling stations can offer both low- and high-pressure H2 fuel to heavy vehicles and cars.