First road-legal hydrogen combustion van rolls onto the road

A familiar van, but running on hydrogen: fuel systems specialist Phinia has converted a Fiat Ducato from diesel to a hydrogen combustion engine. According to the University of California, Riverside, it is the first light commercial vehicle with such an engine (H2-ICE) to be made road-legal under the Euro 7 standards.

What can the van do?

Phinia developed the system together with Saudi Aramco. It uses direct injection: the hydrogen is introduced into the cylinder only after the intake valves have closed. That prevents premature ignition in the intake manifold — a persistent problem with older hydrogen engines using port injection.

On paper, the Ducato performs comparably to the diesel version: similar torque and power, a real-world range of around 500 kilometres and room for up to six occupants. Phinia claims a 99% reduction in tailpipe CO2 compared with diesel.

Independent verification

The claims are now being tested. The same van was shown in early May at the ACT Expo in Las Vegas, where visitors could ride along. It was then shipped from France to UC Riverside's CE-CERT research centre, where researchers run both laboratory and on-road tests. The results will be published in peer-reviewed journals. According to professor Georgios Karavalakis, it is the first test of its kind in the United States.

"The technology is mature"

According to Karavalakis, the challenge lies not with the engine but elsewhere: "The technology is mature. Manufacturers know how to build these engines and these vehicles. What we need is the infrastructure, the fuel, and affordable green hydrogen." He compares hydrogen's current position to where the electric car stood about fifteen years ago, before the charging network caught up with the technology.

The figures do point in the right direction: green hydrogen production costs in the US have fallen by around 45% since 2020. Unsubsidised green hydrogen there still costs between $4.50 and $12 per kilogram.

Not just Phinia

Phinia is not alone. Cummins completed its 6.7-litre hydrogen engine in early 2025 and has started production in India, with first deliveries to Tata Motors. Volvo plans to test hydrogen combustion trucks on the road this year, JCB is deploying H2 machines on construction sites across Europe, and MAN is developing a hydrogen variant of its heavy-duty TGX platform.

A key policy tailwind: under the EU's revised CO2 standards for heavy-duty vehicles, adopted in 2024, hydrogen combustion vehicles count as zero-emission based on their tailpipe output. That puts them on an equal footing with fuel-cell and battery-electric vehicles — particularly relevant for applications where battery weight and charging time are constraints.

For the van and transport sector, this creates a second route toward zero-emission driving, alongside battery-electric. The Ducato shows that this route is now allowed onto the public road.

Sources

• Hymotive — Phinia converts diesel Ducato into first road-legal hydrogen combustion van (June 2026)
• Phinia / Business Wire — Phinia to Showcase Hydrogen Combustion Innovation at ACT Expo 2026
• Automotive World — Phinia unveils Euro 7 hydrogen combustion van with Aramco
• UC Riverside (insideucr.ucr.edu) — Hydrogen combustion van tested at UCR
• Fuel Cells Works — First Homologated H2ICE LCV