Handing over the Fiat Doblo

The hydrogen-powered Doblo in its Made in Arnhem colour scheme was officially handed over to the Municipality of Arnhem on 3 December.

A hydrogen-powered Fiat Doblo was officially handed over to the Municipality of Arnhem during the opening of the hydrogen filling station on 3 December. HyMove director Jan van Beckhoven gave a symbolic car key to Michiel van Wessem, Alderman for Economic Affairs. He was visibly proud of the car, which is fully decked out in a Made in Arnhem colour scheme.

The Fiat Doblo was converted to run on hydrogen at the HAN. The engine and petrol tank were removed and replaced with a hydrogen tank, a fuel cell, a battery package and an electric motor. The project was carried out in the context of the knowledge worker regulations and was initially intended to increase the knowledge of sustainable automotive technology within HAN Automotive.

Various parties were involved in the project. Fiat, which supplied the vehicle, provided support where possible and Nedstack supplied the fuel cell. Silent Motor Company from Arnhem supplied the hydrogen and air supply systems, the cooling system and the control and safety systems. Benteler Engineering Services made a number of automotive engineers available, who were involved in constructing and installing the electronics. The HAN acted as project leader and will monitor the vehicle for a number of years in order to gather valuable information about the functioning of the hydrogen-powered vehicle and its performance. A large number of students were involve in the conversion of the car, of course.

The Fiat Doblo, which has a radius of action of 150 to 200 kilometres, will be used as an official vehicle. It will be part of the vehicle fleet that is kept at the council offices, and will thereby be close to the filling station. Officials who book a vehicle from the fleet manager can therefore be assigned the hydrogen-powered Fiat Doblo.