Landi Renzo focuses on hydrogen for sustainable trucks

From the intuition of transforming petrol-powered cars into natural gas-powered vehicles in a historic moment of crisis to a world-leading company in the sectors of sustainable mobility and infrastructure for natural gas, biomethane and hydrogen. Landi Renzo it is an Italian excellence that, just like 60 years ago, focuses strongly on solutions that can become central to the energy transition. The company, listed on the Stock Exchange, has a long history of “passion and innovation”. To tell it to Truth&Business And Cristiano Musi, CEO of Landi Renzo since 2017.

What are the fundamental milestones that allowed Landi Renzo to get to where it is now?

“From the revolutionary idea of ​​our founder, the company embarked on a path of both organic and inorganic growth until the 2000s. At that time, car manufacturers from all over the world began to develop lines of LPG and natural gas vehicles and turned to us, forerunners and specialists in the sector. This is a springboard that leads to the listing on the Stock Exchange in 2007. The economic crisis of 2008 is another watershed: the company is hit but finds a way to relaunch itself by starting to work on expanding the perimeter”.

How?

“Prima completes its offer in 2012, also developing in the field of infrastructure, with the acquisition of Safe, a company active in the sector of reciprocating compressors for natural gas. A few years later Safe is merged with Clean Energy Compression, creating a single company with a wide range of compressors. From those used in natural gas filling stations, to compressors for biomethane plants up to industrial applications. At the same time he decides to take full advantage of all his skills to enter the heavy duty sector, focusing on the use of natural gas. And then, starting from 2021, Landi Renzo is also definitively launching itself into the hydrogen sector, both in the automotive sector and in the field of infrastructure, with two acquisitions: Metatron e Idromeccanica. These operations have led to the need to refinance and strengthen our assets and management. For this reason, in 2022, we closed a capital increase of 60 million euros which brought into the company, together with the Landi family, an important partner like Itaca”.

After the capital increase, what are Landi Renzo’s plans? Do you focus more on organic growth or are you also open to new operations?

“Right now we are focused on our development journey and execution of the strategic plan. In December we completed the top management team that will help us meet the milestones. We will evaluate them if opportunities arise, but we have a wide and excellent range of products for which we see very high interest from operators. For now we are focused on excelling in what we already do”.

You are a group that invoices around 90% thanks to exports. What are the markets where you see the best potential for further growth?

“In India, where we already have a very strong presence in the automotive sector, we are studying how to improve our positioning on the infrastructure side. In mobility, while in Europe there is talk of a ban on combustion vehicles for passenger cars and light commercial vehicles from 2035, in other parts of the world there is very high attention for methane and hydrogen. I am thinking, for example, of China, where they aim to have one million hydrogen-powered vehicles by 2030, or even of the United States, which is investing heavily in biomethane and hydrogen. Also in Europe we believe that hydrogen will also have important developments in light commercial vehicles”.

In Europe there is only talk of electric cars with batteries. Why aren’t alternatives considered? And do you think a ban on petrol and diesel cars from 2035 is feasible?

“I believe that a misleading message has passed. When we talk about electric, by now, we only mean battery-powered cars. In reality, in fact, a hydrogen fuel cell technology car is an electric car. Quite simply, instead of storing energy in batteries, it is produced on board using hydrogen, with zero carbon dioxide emissions. I think it is perfectly right to talk about reducing emissions, but I think it is wrong to think that it can only be done with one technology. Europe must be technologically neutral and take into account emissions along the entire value chain, i.e. also considering how energy is produced”.

Can hydrogen be a concrete alternative?

“Speaking of hydrogen, I think it is a real opportunity today especially for the light commercial vehicle and mid & heavy duty segment. In fact, many manufacturers are investing and developing hydrogen trucks. It is clear that it is a new technology that requires investment and research. But I think it’s the right way, unlike battery-powered trucks where there are too many complications: from the fact that very large and heavy batteries would be needed which would take up space for the load to be transported to recharging times which would be very long. It is no coincidence that the EU tender for 2035 only concerns vehicles dedicated to passengers under 3.5 tons”.

What about biomethane?

“Biomethane can play a very important role as a bridge to hydrogen, especially in Europe and the United States, where there are significant investments and major players such as Amazon who have chosen biomethane for their fleets. -. For biomethane, interest is increasingly strong also with regard to the energy issue, for example in the United States. Biomethane and hydrogen are an extraordinary opportunity that must be exploited, as the Repower EU plan also envisages”.

Don’t forget the LPG too. What did the car market tell you in 2022 in this regard? Is there still interest?

“It is a concrete opportunity, with consolidated technologies and affordable costs, to immediately reduce carbon dioxide emissions. It should not be forgotten that two important issues arise for the transition to battery-powered electric cars: the social one and the infrastructural one. It is no coincidence that in 2022, with the rise in fuel costs, the number of conversions has risen. LPG-powered cars are a resource for reducing emissions immediately and within everyone’s reach. Furthermore, if we think of geographical areas such as Africa and Latin America, it is evident that LPG and natural gas represent two very important options for sustainable mobility in highly populated geographical areas with often very high levels of pollution”.