EH Group: Slimming Fuel Cells With EIC Accelerator Money

EH Group Engineering, a fuel cell developer founded in Prangins, Vaud, in 2017, won an EIC Accelerator pilot grant in the October 2019 cut-off for EHSTACK, a "Lightweight, Compact and Low-Cost Hydrogen Fuel Cell". The European Commission's list of selected companies names EH Group Engineering of Prangins as a grant-only winner, and no other company is listed for the project. CORDIS records an EU contribution of €1,480,000 towards a total cost of €2,733,750, from 1 February 2020 to 31 March 2022, with EH Group Engineering SA as the sole beneficiary. The company's own news page announced the "EU Horizon 2020 Accelerator Pilot Grant: EUR 1.48M" in February 2020.

The promise was a fuel cell stack redesigned at the level of its microstructure, with 1.5 times the power density of leading products, and a production machine that would cut the cost of a 30 kW stack from about €1,000 per kW to under €100. More than six years later, EH Group has launched one 250 kW system, joined two EU research consortia without EU money, and in July 2026 went through a recapitalisation in which creditors swapped debt for preferred shares and its board was rebuilt, according to the Swiss commercial register.

A Rebuilt Board and a Blank Website

EH Group Engineering SA is registered as active in Nyon. On 29 June 2026 its shareholders cut the share capital from CHF 658,000 to CHF 305,725 by destroying 3,522,750 of the company's own shares, split all shares into CHF 0.10 units, and then raised the capital to CHF 2,073,896.10 "en espèces et par compensation de créances de CHF 6'467'733", that is in cash and by converting CHF 6,467,733 of claims into preferred shares, which rank first for dividends and liquidation proceeds. The same notice, published in the Swiss commercial gazette (SHAB/FOSC) on 24 July 2026, records that co-founder Christopher Brandon left the board, that Mardit Matian is no longer chair, and that Brynne Kennedy of Commugny became chair alongside Philip Potter of New York, according to Zefix. Moneyhouse lists the same three board members, Matian still among them. Who held the converted claims and who put in cash is not public.

The public face of the company has changed too. Until at least June 2026, ehgroup.ch showed the full product site, headlined "Resilient On-site Power Now", according to the Wayback Machine. In October 2026 the address forwards to eh.energy, a page that reads "Coming Soon" with a link to careers. The last item on the archived news page is the ISO 9001 certification of February 2025. No press release explains the restructuring.

A second company carries the same name. EH Group Energy AG, set up in Founex in 2020 with Brandon and Matian on its board, to split hydrocarbons into hydrogen and solid carbon, is still active; in April 2026 Matian left its board and Brandon stepped down as its chair, according to Zefix. Nothing public links it to the EIC project.

The Technology: Thinner Cells, Fewer Parts

A proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell combines hydrogen and oxygen across a membrane to make electricity, with water and heat as the only by-products. Hundreds of cells are stacked to reach useful power, and the stack needs a balance of plant around it: compressors, humidifiers, cooling and controls. EH Group's claim, set out in its CORDIS report, is a cell pitch of 0.74 mm, so thin that the stack "is able to operate with minimal effects of gravity and in any orientation", and a design that lets the company "downsize humidifier" and replace the compressor. The report puts power density at "8kW/l and 4kW/kg", which it says is "1.5-2 times" that of the most competitive stacks on the market.

The company protects the design with patents. A US patent on gas flow paths built into the cell frame, filed with a 2018 priority date and naming Matian as inventor, was granted on 19 November 2024, according to Google Patents. A European patent family on spring compression inside the stack's end plates, naming Matian and lead developer Alexandre Chainho, has a 2019 priority date and is recorded as granted as EP3921887B1. No independent test of the power density figures has been published.

The product range listed on the hydrogen marketplace Hyfindr runs from the EH-51 stack (5 to 15 kW) and EH-81 stack (20 to 100 kW) to systems of 20 kW, 40 kW and the 250 kW EH-TRACE. The EH-TRACE, launched on 28 October 2024, is built on the EH-87 stack, claims a minimum electrical efficiency above 50%, can be stacked to 3 MW in a 40-foot container and holds an Approval in Principle from the classification society DNV, according to releases carried by Silicon UK and ITWeb. No buyer of an EH-TRACE has been named.

What EHSTACK Promised, and What the Record Shows

The CORDIS objective set three goals: a stack with 1.5 times the power density of leading products, "a transformative assembly and production" process to cut prices, and a simpler fuel cell system. The final report, covering December 2020 to March 2022 and last updated on 22 July 2022, gave dates. "The whole machinery is due to be completed in mid 2021," it says, "with our goal being to achieve TRL 8+ in order to commercialise our product to scale and embark upon mass production by 2022." It also said the stack and system would be deployed "in various actual testing environments with the assistance of industrial partners to reach TRL7-8", as range extenders on electric vehicles or in micro-grids.

At the end of the project, the same report said "the majority of the engineering and design work has been completed and the build of several modules is underway" for the assembly machinery. In January 2022, two months before the project ended, EH Group said the proceeds of its pre-Series A round would go towards "the installation of EH Group's own proprietary stack assembly technology", according to Startupticker and IndiaInfoline, so the machinery was not finished by mid 2021. EH Group has announced neither the completion of the line nor mass production. Its website in 2026 described "our fully automated micro-precision assembly process" in general terms, without a production volume.

1. Stack with 1.5x the power density of leading productsReported8 kW/l and 4 kW/kg in the CORDIS report; no independent test published.
2. Simplified fuel cell systemDelivered, lateEH-TRACE 250 kW launched October 2024 with DNV Approval in Principle.
3. Assembly machinery complete by mid 2021Not achievedStill being installed in January 2022; completion never announced.
4. Field deployments with industrial partners, TRL 7 to 8Not achievedAn Indian deployment "being commissioned soon" in 2022 and a Snam MoU; no completed deployment reported.
5. Mass production by 2022Not achievedNo production volume or series customer announced.
6. Stack cost below €100/kW at scaleNot achievedNo cost or price published.

The cost target is the boldest claim. The US Department of Energy aims to bring heavy-duty fuel cell systems to $80 per kW by 2030, according to Utility Dive's report on its programme plan; EHSTACK promised a stack below €100 per kW at scale, the same order of magnitude. Whether EH Group came near it cannot be checked, because it has published neither a cost nor a price.

Partners, Pilots and Prizes

The record after the grant is mostly memoranda, consortia and awards. In January 2022 EH Group raised more than CHF 5 million in a pre-Series A round in which the hydrogen investor AP Ventures took part; AP Ventures' Andrew Hinkly said the technology "has the potential to be game-changing", according to Startupticker and IndiaInfoline. Earlier, Vaud's Foundation for Technological Innovation lent it CHF 100,000 in 2019 and the W.A. de Vigier Foundation named it a 2020 winner, according to the company's news page and the foundation.

In late 2022 it opened a control-software lab at the IIT Madras Research Park in Chennai through a subsidiary, EH Group Systems Pvt Ltd, and said its first fuel cell deployment in India was about to be commissioned, according to Startupticker and the company's news page. Italy's gas grid operator Snam signed a memorandum of understanding after its HyAccelerator programme to "evaluate the possibility of using EHG's hydrogen fuel cell systems at its construction sites, as an alternative to traditional diesel generators", according to Hydronews. In November 2024 it signed another memorandum with the Dutch marine engineering firm NIM on hydrogen drive trains for ships, according to the Netherlands Maritime Technology association and ITWeb. None of these has been followed by an announced order, delivery or completed pilot.

EH Group has taken part in two later EU projects, both without EU money. In H2MARINE, a Horizon Europe project on PEM stacks for ships running from January 2024 to June 2027, CORDIS lists a total cost of €7,499,171.50 and EH Group as an associated partner with an EU contribution of €0; the company's release, which put the budget at over €9 million, said the project is co-funded by the Clean Hydrogen Partnership and Switzerland's State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation, and that EH Group would design, assemble and test 250 to 300 kW stacks, according to ITWeb. In REVEAL, an aluminium-based energy storage project from July 2022 to June 2026, it is also listed as a partner with €0. In February 2025 it obtained ISO 9001 quality certification from SQS, according to ITWeb and the company's news page.

Why It Matters for Europe

The EU's hydrogen strategy of July 2020 and the REPowerEU target of producing 10 million tonnes of renewable hydrogen by 2030 depend on equipment that turns hydrogen into power, and the EU co-funds fuel cell research through the Clean Hydrogen Partnership, according to the European Commission. A cheap, compact European stack would serve the strategy directly. EH Group has shifted its pitch over the years: the EHSTACK report talked of buses, trucks and range extenders, while its 2026 website led with "resilient power in data centres, microgrids, and other mission-critical infrastructure" and with aviation and marine uses "linked to defense".

The Verdict

EH Group and its new board have not been asked for comment for this article. It is based entirely on public records and published statements, linked throughout.