Safra is speeding up hydrogen mobility

02/04/2021

Safra is about to break ground on construction of a new extension of its industrial site, in Tarn. ©Safra

Safra will benefit from the economic stimulus package France Relance to invest on its industrial site.

February 2021. The Tarn-based firm Safra had a nice turn in the spotlight recently when Barbara Pompili, Minister of Ecological Transition, Bruno Le Maire, Minister of the Economy, Finance and the Recovery, and Agnès Pannier-Runacher, Minister Delegate of Industry chose to co-preside the First National Council on Hydrogen live from their industrial site in Albi, in the Tarn . The Council, which was held on Thursday February 25, included key industrial players in the sector.

Safra had submitted a project in the Industrial Territories category to a regional Call for Projects that was part of the “France Relance” economic stimulus package. Having been granted a budget of €750,000, Safra is now about to break ground on construction of a new extension to their industrial site. Construction should start on their new, 7,300 m2 (almost 80,000 ft2) assembly hall, which represents an investment of €7 million, by the end of the first quarter 2021.

A hydrogen-powered city bus

At the same time, the company announced €12 million in investment for 2021-2022 to industrialize production of their Businova H2, a hydrogen-powered city bus, as well as €17 million more in R&D for the period 2021-2023, in order to develop a new hydrogen-powered bus. The company’s first hydrogen Businova went into service in 2019, in and around the city of Lens (Pas de Calais), for the Artois-Gohelle transportation agency.

To date, a total of 12 Businova H2s have been delivered to Lens, Versailles (Yvelines) and Le Mans (Sarthe). The company has firm orders for ten more, including four vehicles intended for Toulouse-Blagnac airport (Haute-Garonne).