Six industrial companies – Air Liquide, Daimler, Linde, OMV, Shell and Total – have formed a cross-sector joint venture, H2 Mobility Deutschland. The creation of the limited partnership paves the way for a staged expansion of hydrogen (H2) filling stations across Germany, which will bring the total to around 400 by 2023.
The Berlin-based company has started operations and is working on preparation for stage one of the joint action plan which envisages the accelerated set-up of 100 filling stations over the next few years. Senior representatives of the H2 Mobility venture partners met on Tuesday (13 October) at launch talks with federal minister of transport Alexander Dobrindt and discussed the next steps. The industry and government partners have reinforced their commitment by signing a memorandum of understanding on hydrogen filling stations for Germany.
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Dobrindt said: "E-mobility must be emotional and shall arouse passion for the drive of the future. Electric vehicles powered by hydrogen fuel cells offer the best conditions: You have a long range and can refuel in some minutes. For the market ramp-up of this technology, we now need a comprehensive network of fueling stations for hydrogen. Therefore, I welcome the plans of H2 Mobility to build up 400 hydrogen fueling stations in Germany by 2023."
The H2 Mobility action plan envisages a Germany-wide network of H2 stations by 2023, which would make Germany the first country to offer an inter-regional network where fuel cell vehicles (FCEVs) can fill up with hydrogen. Investments of around EUR400m are planned.
As the industrial key player in the expansion of H2 infrastructure in Germany, H2 Mobility and its managing director, Frank Sreball, are responsible for building and operating a Germany-wide H2 filling station network. The joint venture also forms an integral part of the research project for the further development of hydrogen-powered mobility. H2 Mobility is a member of the recently formed Hydrogen Mobility Europe network.
The joint venture partners have many years of experience in the fields of electric mobility powered by fuel cells, refueling technology and infrastructure build-up. The industrial partners have recently made significant progress on standardisation issues as well.
The first automotive manufacturers already have FCEVs in production for the German market. Others are to follow.
Via the H2 Mobility advisory, car manufacturers BMW, Volkswagen, Honda and Toyota, as well as the technology company Intelligent Energy are involved in the joint venture. H2 Mobility is also in close partnership with the Clean Energy Partnership (CEP), the largest hydrogen mobility project in Europe.
