Berlin–North Rhine-Westphalia remains at the forefront of the federal states in developing the infrastructure for hydrogen filling stations: H2 MOBILITY Germany and its partners Shell and Air Liquide have now jointly opened the state’s 18th hydrogen (H2) filling station in Dortmund. Bavaria is hot on its heels with 17 stations.
Hydrogen is used to refuel electric vehicles with fuel cells. Your advantages: no noise, no pollutants, but the same use, speed and range as for cars with petrol or diesel engines. Hydrogen vehicles have ranges of 500 to 700 kilometers and fill up in just three to five minutes.
The network of stations where fuel cell vehicles can fill up with hydrogen is becoming ever denser. There are already 83 H2 filling stations in Germany. The expansion will be continued successively as needed. There are already 32 hydrogen filling stations in Germany’s Shell network.
The focus of the expansion is on the metropolitan regions Rhine / Ruhr and Rhine / Main, as well as Hamburg, Berlin, Munich, Nuremberg, Stuttgart and the important connecting roads. H2 filling stations in the Ruhr region already exist in Essen, Mülheim, Duisburg, Herten, Ratingen and Wuppertal. The new location in Dortmund is located in the city center north at Shell Station Schützenstraße 2-4, near A45 and B54. The client is H2 MOBILITY Germany, a joint venture that is building a hydrogen infrastructure in Germany. The filling station technology comes from Air Liquide. The new hydrogen station in Dortmund is state of the art. Its operation by the driver is intuitive; refueling is similar to that of conventional vehicles. The plant holds around 200 kilograms of H2.
E-mobility with hydrogen lowers CO2 emissions
Hydrogen offers the opportunity to expand the fuel supply in the transport sector in a climate-friendly way, because with the help of hydrogen, especially if it is generated with renewable energy, CO2 emissions that are harmful to the climate can be significantly reduced.
The hydrogen station in Dortmund is funded by the European Commission through the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen 2 Joint Undertaking (FCH 2 JU) in the Hydrogen Mobility Europe (H2ME) project.
Comments on the opening of the H₂ station in Dortmund
Thomas Westphal, Managing Director of the City of Dortmund’s Economic Development Agency
“The Dortmund location is currently developing a hydrogen strategy with local and regional companies around the large-scale Cleanport and Huckarde energy campus projects. The issues of generation, production, networks, buildings and the field of mobility are crucial. With the new H2 filling station, we can show how new technologies work locally. ”
Dr. Frank-Michael Baumann, Managing Director of EnergieAgentur.NRW:
“As the organizer of the oldest German network for fuel cell and hydrogen technologies and electromobility, which is 20 years old, we are pleased that North Rhine-Westphalia is expanding the H2 infrastructure and is the leader in the number of hydrogen filling stations . We are convinced that electromobility with hydrogen and batteries has no alternative and will accelerate the energy transition in the most populous federal state. ”
Dr. Fabian Ziegler, CEO of Shell Deutschland Oil GmbH:
“With its commitment to new energies, Shell is making an important contribution to the energy transition. We want to provide products that can help our customers reduce CO2 and pollutant emissions. ”
Markus Schewitza, Managing Director Air Liquide Advanced Technologies GmbH:
“Hydrogen is one of the best solutions to achieve the goals of the Parisian climate protection agreement. It has the potential to decarbonize the transportation sector, one of the major sources of pollution in our cities. Air Liquide is proud to be involved in building Europe’s largest hydrogen infrastructure. ”
Nikolas Iwan, Managing Director H2 MOBILITY Deutschland GmbH: “Hydrogen has what it takes to revolutionize our mobility in a sustainable way in every respect, because hydrogen means emission-free driving for all sizes: cars, buses, trucks or trains.”
About H2 MOBILITY
H2 MOBILITY Deutschland GmbH & Co. KG is responsible for the nationwide establishment of a hydrogen infrastructure in Germany, primarily to supply cars with fuel cell drives (700 bar technology). The first goal is to operate 100 stations in seven German metropolitan areas (Hamburg, Berlin, Rhine-Ruhr, Frankfurt, Nuremberg, Stuttgart and Munich) as well as along trunk roads and highways. H2 MOBILITY takes on all tasks – planning, construction, operation and marketing – which are necessary for successful network expansion and operation.
Read the most up to date Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Industry news at FuelCellsWorks
