Hype, a firm at the vanguard of hydrogen infrastructure development for zero-emission urban transportation solutions in France and Europe, has inked a strategic collaboration agreement with McPhy.
Hype, as a key player in the structure of light and heavy hydrogen mobility, is relying on a first market for hydrogen that is immediately relevant – the urban cab – to deploy a hydrogen production and distribution network that is open to all other forms of urban mobility: utility vehicles, buses, trucks, and so on.
Hype’s ambition is to deploy 10,000 zero-emission cabs and 20 high-capacity stations in the Paris region by the end of the 2024 Olympic Games, and to expand to 15 other cities across the world by the end of 2024, in target areas such as Spain, Portugal, Italy, Belgium, and the United Kingdom. This expansion strategy, which is backed by large owners like as the Banque des Territoires, is expected to result in roughly 40,000 cars and 100 stations by the end of 2025. (CDC).
This development plan contains a strategic agreement between McPhy and Hype that covers commercial, technological, and financial components.
“The deal agreed with Hype is part of an ambitious strategic strategy to actively contribute to the integration of the hydrogen sector in France,” said Jean-Baptiste Lucas, McPhy’s Chief Executive Officer. The combination of Hype’s offer as a hydrogen vehicle and infrastructure operator and McPhy’s offer as a supplier of hydrogen production and distribution solutions for zero-emission mobility illustrates the need for collaboration to synchronize the mass production of hydrogen vehicles and the infrastructures required for their use.”
“We are ecstatic with this strategic partnership with McPhy, which precisely exemplifies the Hype project’s goals.” “We have discovered a partner in McPhy who, like us, is putting all of its expertise at the service of the rapid and ambitious deployment of a French hydrogen industrial sector,” said Mathieu Gardies, President of Hype.
The two companies’ collaboration will take shape in 2022, with definitive orders for a 2 to 4 MW alkaline electrolyzer and an 800 kg/day hydrogen station being placed with Hype.
Additional orders for a new multi-megawatt electrolyzer and 5 additional high-capacity hydrogen stations might be placed in 2023, pending confirmation of special subsidies sought by Hype in 2021.
With the potential for orders of 50 stations and 15 to 25 megawatts by the end of 2025, this collaboration opens up a plethora of medium-term opportunities.
As part of the development of a co-exclusive framework agreement between Hype and McPhy by the end of 2022, these first orders might be followed by future commercial prospects. This deal calls for Hype to install a minimum of 100 stations across France and Europe, with McPhy receiving 50% of the total.
McPhy would also be identified as the preferred partner for the provision of 15 to 25 MW of alkaline electrolysis as part of this arrangement.
Hype and the HRS firm have also agreed to a similar co-exclusivity arrangement on a parity basis for the delivery of high-capacity hydrogen refueling stations.
McPhy will get access to the data acquired by Hype cars, in addition to their commercial relationship, in order to improve its station and electrolyzer offering. This technological collaboration is built on the sharing of experience in order to standardize equipment, improve technical performance, and boost economic competitiveness.
McPhy will subscribe an amount of €12 million in Hype’s convertible bonds, which will carry interest at 4.5 percent per year and be redeemed after 9 years from the date of formalization of the firm order described above, in order to expand their partnership. Under specific situations and under restricted circumstances, such as a change of ownership, an initial public offering, or a share issue in excess of €10 million, these bonds may be converted into Hype shares prior to their maturity date.
McPhy is forming a collaboration with a prominent operator in zero-emission urban mobility as a result of this transaction, which is based on a shared goal of the democratization of green hydrogen for transportation decarbonization. The integration of McPhy equipment into Hype’s “turnkey” mobility offering, which synchronizes the large-scale supply of hydrogen vehicles and their refueling infrastructure, will provide the Group with a portfolio of opportunities that will represent a significant business volume in the coming years, and has already secured orders for the coming years. McPhy’s new hydrogen station production plant, which will be operational in Grenoble in 2022, will produce the stations envisaged under this cooperation.
