PARIS — Renault and U.S. hydrogen specialist Plug Energy launched a three way partnership to develop hydrogen-powered gentle industrial autos.

The brand new enterprise, known as Hyvia, will likely be equally owned by the 2 corporations, Renault and Plug Energy mentioned in a joint statement on Thursday.

Hyvia’s actions will likely be carried out at present Renault services in France, with the pinnacle workplace and the R&D groups positioned on the automaker’s gentle industrial car engineering and growth middle in Villiers-Saint-Frederic.

The method, manufacturing and logistics groups will likely be primarily based in Flins, the place meeting of gas cells and recharging stations will start by the tip of the 12 months.

Renault currently has fuel cell variants of the Master and the small Kangoo van, with a number of hundred items of the Kangoo on the highway in Europe, with a spread of about 350 km (218 miles).

The primary new autos from the three way partnership,will likely be primarily based on Renault Grasp and will likely be constructed on the Batilly plant. The vans can have a spread of 500 km to 600 km, Renault’s head of engineering, Gilles Le Borgne, mentioned when the enterprise was announced in January.

The three way partnership will likely be chaired by David Holderbach, who the businesses mentioned has over 20 years of expertise in strategic, product and worldwide gross sales on the Renault.

Automotive Information Europe contributed to this report