Mercedes Bresso, President of the Region of Piedmont, and Sergio Marchionne, CEO of Fiat, announce a wide-ranging cooperative program for hydrogen fuelled transport, as foreseen in the protocol of intent signed a the end of December 2005. Andrea Bairati, Region of Piedmont Assessor of Innovation, and Giuseppe Bonollo, Vice President of Product Portfolio Management at Fiat Auto, also attended the event which took place at Hy Park, a dedicated area showcasing hydrogen applications during the Olympic Winter Games.

Fiat and Regione Piemonte will cooperate on local and European-level programs over the short and long term. They will promote Piedmont as a key research and development centre in this innovative area. “The cooperation with the Fiat Group – explains President Mercedes Bresso – is strategic also in view of the creation of the "Piemonte Idrogeno" Enterprise Association to promote the development of hydrogen-based technologies applied to transportation and portable and stationary electric power generation systems and to acquire new skills and competitiveness in the sector. We also plan the launch of several strategic projects in 2006 that will immediately involve small, medium, and large industries, the Turin Polytechnic, the University of Turin, and regional research centres – Bresso concludes.

Sergio Marchionne, CEO of Fiat, comments: “The cooperation with the Region of Piedmont for the research and development of hydrogen fuelled vehicles allows us to face the future with the knowledge to take things forward. The Fiat Group intends to play a leading role in this challenge, and I hope that the Piedmontese region could be a leader at a European level, participating to the EU Research Programmes and attracting funds to generate new competitiveness.”

“The Region of Piedmont - says Andrea Bairati, Assessor of Innovation - has thus contacted the European Community to become a candidate, together with other Italian regions (Lombardy, Trentino-Alto Adige, Veneto, and Friuli Venezia Giulia), as a Hydrogen Com Area for the development of large European demonstration projects of hydrogen-based technologies. Piedmont wishes to play an important role in the Joint Technology Initiative (JTI) for hydrogen to be defined by the European Commission.
 

"This initiative, envisaged in the next Research Framework Program FP7 (2007-2013) - Bairati concludes - represents an opportunity for attracting major investments in Italy supporting the growth of skills and development of innovative technologies.”

Fiat will support these initiatives by lending some of its internationally recognised experts, including available resources at the Fiat Research Center in Orbassano and Fiat Auto innovation facilities.

“One major project – specifies Giuseppe Bonollo, Vice President of Product Portfolio Management at Fiat Auto - calls for the study of a Panda Hydrogen lab fleet equipped with instrumentation to measure vehicle and system performance with innovative components under real operating conditions”.

Fiat has realised the first Panda Hydrogen prototype, which represents the city car of the future. It uses technologies that will totally eliminate all negative environmental impact and exploit energy sources more efficiently, including renewable energy sources. The hydrogen-based fuel cell propulsion unit that efficiently generates electric power for the powertrain system was developed by the Fiat Group in 1999 with the fundamental support from the Italian Research and Environment Ministries. This system is based on Italian technology and know-how and confirms the leadership held by the Region of Piedmont in the hydrogen power technology sector.