Bosch factory may be closed after hydrogen fuel cell plan is suspended due to lack of customers
The German company says it 'does not have enough visibility on the development of the market'
Bosch may close a factory in southern France after it suspended plans to produce hydrogen fuel cells there, citing a lack of immediate customers, according to French press agency AFP.
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The Rodez plant mainly produces injectors for diesel engines, but amid a significant decline in this market, Bosch agreed in 2018 to diversify the facility to serve a range of different sectors, and in 2019, launched its FresH2 project to build fuel-cell systems for refrigerated truck trailers, which would replace diesel generators.
Trade unions representing workers have said that unless Bosch comes up with a plan to manufacture something else at the plant, it would have to be closed.
FresH2 was road-tested in 2021, with the German company stating at the time that it planned to deploy a “ready-to-use” solution by mid-2024, with a pre-series available in 2023 through its involvement in the Corridor H2 project.
However, with Bosch suspending its investment into hydrogen fuel cell production, this raises questions over whether the Corridor H2 project will be able to meet its targets.
And the future of the Rodez factory is extremely uncertain, as Bosch has already started to scale back diesel manufacturing operations with no new production line for fuel cells to replace it.
This could put the company in breach of a deal with the site’s unions, which agreed 750 jobs cut from the 1,250-person facility on the condition that 250 were kept on for its FresH2 fuel cell project (and as many more on other projects) until 2027 and no forced departures before the end of 2028.
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