H2Accelerate TRUCKS showcases the road to large-scale deployment at Connecting Europe Days

H2Accelerate TRUCKS joins the AEVETO cluster with the European Technology Platform ALICE at Connecting Europe Days 2026 putting zero-emission trucking in the spotlight

Connecting Europe Days 2026 was its most successful edition to date, bringing together more than 4,500 transport experts, policymakers, industry representatives and other stakeholders over three days.

IRU presented H2Accelerate TRUCKS alongside nine other zero-emission heavy-duty vehicle projects through the AEVETO cluster, showcasing how research and innovation can accelerate the decarbonisation of road transport. Fellow Horizon Europe projects, including ZEFES and H2Haul, demonstrated battery electric and fuel cell hydrogen technologies that are already being developed and tested at smaller scale across Europe.

The AEVETO booth welcomed European Commissioner for Sustainable Transport and Tourism, Apostolos Tzitzikostas, who met the team as well as IRU members from France (AFTRI) and Turkey (TOBB) and discussed the projects, their progress and operators’ expectations. His visit sent a strong political signal: decarbonising heavy-duty road transport, and building the infrastructure to make it possible, remains high on the EU agenda.

Commissioner Tzitzikostas stressed during the event that sustained investment will be essential to deliver Europe’s future transport infrastructure. The next challenge is to ensure that EU-funded innovation moves from demonstration to deployment at scale. This is precisely what H2Accelerate TRUCKS is working towards, with the upcoming rollout of 125 fuel cell trucks marking the transition from testing to large-scale deployment.

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H2Accelerate TRUCKS is co-funded by the Clean Hydrogen Partnership, the Research Council of Norway and the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation.