Using hydrogen in place of regular diesel would reduce the total oil consumption by the road transport sector by 40 per cent between now and 2050, according to a Hyways programme funded by the EU's research directorate.

The HyWays project brings together industry, research institutes and government agencies from ten European countries. The report was published as the EU member states are due to give their approval for a new €940 million public/private research partnership for the development of hydrogen and fuel cells.

The costs of hydrogen end-use applications, especially for road transport, need to be reduced considerably to become competitive. At the same time deployment support schemes for hydrogen end-use technologies and infrastructure build-up are required.

Comparing the spending on hydrogen production, supply and vehicles with the savings to be gained from replacing conventional fuel and conventional vehicles over time, the simulations of the project predict that the break-even point would be most likely reached between 2025 and 2035.

The HyWays Roadmap estimates that in 2030 there will be 16 million hydrogen cars and the total cumulative investment for infrastructure build-up will amount to €60 billion.

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