11. The expert from the United States of America, on behalf of the co-sponsors (Japan, Republic of Korea and European Union) informed GRSP about the work progress of IWG on Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Vehicles (HFCV) UN GTR No. 13, Phase 2. He summarized the seventh IWG meeting of 3 to 7 November in Stuttgart, Germany. He noted that the meeting had been well attended: more than 60 representatives from contracting parties (Canada, China, Germany, Japan, Republic of Korea, United States of America, European Union), motor vehicle manufacturers and container industries, standards-setting organizations and academia had participated. He added that IWG had continued to work on the main items of Phase 2 that had been divided among five Task Forces and four subgroups to cover issues ranging from the expansion of the scope of the UN GTR to cover heavy-duty vehicles to include trucks and buses, hydrogen material compatibility, tank stress rupture, fire test repeatability parameters, safe release of thermo-pressure release valve, and additional amendments of existing UN GTR test procedures. He explained that the IWG had made good progress, and had reached consensus in some key areas: (a) expansion of the scope to cover trucks and buses, (b) permeation criteria for HDVs and the hydrogen leakage criteria, (c) transfer high-voltage battery and electric system safety requirements to the scope of UN GTR No. 20. However, he added that several other items continue to be a challenge for IWG, for example, deciding on: the necessity of a dynamic sled test to verify the safe installation of potentially safety-critical components, the requirements to specify installation of these components, or the geometry design of the receptacle so as to minimize the occurrence of freezing of the nozzle in the receptacle during refuelling. He added that, in the process, also new issues had been introduced: (a) alternative hydrogen container designs and (b) proposal for possible extension of the container’s useful life from 15 to 25 years based on the real-life data. He concluded that the group had agreed to begin drafting the proposed amendments on items which had reached consensus for UN GTR No. 13 within two weeks so as to be available by the March 2020 meeting of the IWG, when the IWG would evaluate the progress and gaps, and decide on potentially requesting a extension of the mandate at the May 2020 session of GRSP.

12. He announced that the eighth IWG meeting was scheduled for 2 to 6 March 2020 in Tokyo.