Norway’s NEL, a supplier of hydrogen filling stations, is facing legal action in the United States. The local subsidiary of Japan’s Iwatani is accusing the company of fraud and false promises, while Nel denies these allegations.

In a statement on its website, Nel Hydrogen claims having been notified of legal proceedings taken against it by Iwatani for an unspecified amount. The lawsuit is against Nel and some of its subsidiaries in connection with certain agreements with the American subsidiary of Iwatani. The company which took over Linde’s stations in California, is a major player in the fuelling infrastructure and is due to build 30 stations in California by 2026, following an agreement with Chevron.

This complaint was lodged in California. Nel rejects the accusations and intends to vigorously oppose them. According to Hydrogen Insight, which claims to have consulted the documents, the complaint alleges “misrepresentation, false promises and fraud”. In fact, the Norwegian company did not test 7 stations intended for Iwatani in real conditions. There were defects and the code was still being written for the software. In addition, Nel is accused of concealing reliability problems and breakdowns encountered on stations already deployed with other customers. The Japanese company is also complaining of rudimentary user manuals that do not enable operators to identify error codes.

Announcements made by the two parties can be found here and here on Nel’s website. The Norwegian company announced during summer of 2023, another purchase order for 16 stations in California, from a not yet revealed, US energy company.

Following this news, Nel’s share value has witnessed a drop reaching 0.43 euros on the morning of 9 February 2024.

Don’t miss out on the latest hydrogen-related news and updates. Subscribe to our newsletter.

Article written by Laurent Meillaud and translated by Mariem Ben Tili