Zurich–The Swiss start-up company “H2 Energy Solutions GmbH”, founded this August, wants to make a significant contribution to reducing the CO2 emissions caused by road traffic by setting up a nationwide filling station infrastructure for refueling cars and trucks with hydrogen.
Road traffic in Switzerland accounts for around 38% of the final energy consumed in Switzerland. Road traffic thus represents the largest group of energy consumers, ahead of households and industry. Traffic covers 94% of its energy requirements with petroleum products (petrol, diesel, aviation fuel). Vehicles powered by combustion engines emit the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) and in this way influence the climate. In 2019, CO2 emissions from transport totaled 14.7 million tonnes (excluding international air traffic). This corresponded to 40% of Switzerland’s CO2 emissions. Between 1990 and 2019, transport-related CO2 emissions increased by 2%.
An important contribution to reducing CO2
The Swiss start-up company “H2 Energy Solutions GmbH”, founded this August, wants to make a significant contribution to reducing the CO2 emissions caused by road traffic by building a nationwide filling station infrastructure for refueling cars and trucks with hydrogen. As a fuel, hydrogen contains three times more energy than fuels made from fossil fuels such as gasoline or diesel. Hydrogen has great potential, especially for the transport sector. Because vehicles powered by hydrogen only emit water vapor instead of CO2.
In Switzerland there are currently around 6 million vehicles that fill up with traditional fuel at one of the around 3550 public filling stations. There are currently only a few hydrogen filling stations in this country that only cover a certain region in Switzerland. The Toyota dealership intends to sell 1,600 copies of its hydrogen model “Mirais Fuel Cell” in Switzerland. But this requires a nationwide network of filling stations for refueling with hydrogen. Hydrogen, which is obtained from water by means of electrolysis, is compressed and can thus be stored or transported.
The only waste product is water
A lot of electricity is needed to produce hydrogen. However, if this electricity is fed from renewable energies, the drive is sustainable. In this context, one also speaks of “green hydrogen”. The Eidgenössische Materialprüfungs- und Forschungsanstalt (Empa) is already producing hydrogen and gaining the electricity it needs from photovoltaic cells. Hydrogen electric cars have a special and particularly stable tank into which the compressed hydrogen is filled. This hydrogen is converted into electrical energy in fuel cells. During the conversion, hydrogen and oxygen react. The only “waste product” of electricity production is water. Quick refueling is one of the many advantages over charging an electric car.
Rolf Häusermann, the managing director of H2 Energy Solutions GmbH, has specialized in the renovation and retrofitting of petrol stations in his career and can use this experience to fulfill the corporate strategy. The native of Aargau outlines the business strategy as follows: “Our goal is to build a Swiss-wide infrastructure with hydrogen filling stations for refueling cars,” says Häusermann. He currently reckons with a total market potential of 1500 customers; the current market volume, which is served by existing providers, is only around 20 customers. For Häusermann, the main driver of hydrogen mobility is primarily
H2 Energy Solutions was founded in 2021 with the intention of making a significant contribution to reducing greenhouse gases in line with the federal energy strategy. H2 Energy Solutions believes that the future lies in the development of hydrogen-powered cars. H2 Energy Solutions wants to set up a hydrogen infrastructure in Switzerland with the construction of hydrogen filling stations and hydrogen refueling systems. H2 Energy Solutions will also focus on trading in technology and spare parts as well as the service and maintenance of hydrogen filling stations.
Rolf Häusermann, the company founder of H2 Energy Solutions GmbH, is a trained electrician and can look back on many years of activity as a service technician. He has a global perspective thanks to various assignments abroad in Scandinavia, Russia and Africa. In 1992, Häusermann founded the company Petrol-Service Euringer & Häusermann GmbH and ran the company as operational manager. Among other things, Petrol-Service Euringer & Häusermann GmbH successfully renovated 300 filling stations in Switzerland in the 1990s in accordance with the federal clean air ordinance, which was new at the time.
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