In the presence of Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing, the H2 MOBILITY Deutschland initiative has put into operation Berlin’s fifth hydrogen station at the Shell filling station Tempelhofer Weg 102. This is one of Germany’s most efficient station as of today and is central to the further ramp-up of hydrogen mobility in the German capital: nowhere else is the volume of H2 vehicles growing as fast as in Berlin.
The new filling station is available for refueling hydrogen vehicles at 350 bar (buses and trucks) and at 700 bar (passenger cars, light commercial vehicles and waste collectors). It is conveniently located near the city motorway 100 and the A 113 near the BSR service yard in the south of Berlin. H2 MOBILITY Deutschland (founded by the partners Air Liquide, Daimler, Linde, OMV, Shell and TOTAL) was responsible for the facility’s construction and operation. The technology was supplied by Air Liquide.
“Hydrogen and fuel cell technologies are an important building block for climate-friendly mobility. For this reason, the Federal Ministry for Transport is funding the deployment of a basic network of publicly accessible hydrogen stations. We are taking the lead and laying the foundations for climate-neutral road transport. For people and businesses to increasingly rely on alternative drivetrains, we need robust and widely available infrastructure. Hydrogen-powered vehicles will only be used if hydrogen stations are available across the country. We have joined forces with industry to achieve this goal,” said Wissing.
At the Tempelhofer Weg station, not only the BSR waste collectors will be refueling in future, but also the fleet of “H2 moves Berlin”, which is to grow to over 200 Toyota Mirai in the driving service by summer 2023. In addition, the first hydrogen trucks will be delivered to customers nearby, including in Hylane rental service, in Berlin in the spring of 2023.
“Putting applications such as waste disposal for a transformed climate-friendly, modern mobility on to the road on a daily basis in a stable way requires enormous efforts and a lot of expertise at all levels. I am delighted that the first truly high-performance H2 filling station is now coming online in Berlin. This supports us in the transformation and provides a necessary infrastructural service improvement for our operational processes,” explained Wolfgang Wüllhorst, Head of Fleet Management, Berliner Stadtreinigung (BSR).
In addition, Thomas Mohnke, Senior Executive Partner SafeDriver Group, operator of the “H2 moves Berlin” fleet, commented: “Hydrogen is also an ideal fuel for cars and vans in continuous operation. Refueling takes just a few minutes, the ranges are suitable for everyday use and multi-shift operation can be implemented at any time.”
Sara Schiffer, Managing Director Hylane, added: “Our tenants have been on the road with hydrogen trucks in Germany since the end of last year. The expansion of the refueling infrastructure gives our customers increasing flexibility in planning their routes and ensures a reliable hydrogen supply through regional redundancies. This is important because we need more vehicles with sustainable drives, especially in heavy goods transport, in order to achieve climate protection targets.”
The construction of the hydrogen filling station was funded with a total of EUR 1.3 million by the Federal Ministry of Digital Affairs and Transport under its National Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology Innovation Programme.
Fuel cell vehicle drivers can currently refuel cars, smaller commercial vehicles, and utility vehicles such as waste collectors at 700 bar at nearly 100 public hydrogen stations in Germany. 350-bar refueling for buses and trucks is also possible at some of these stations. H2 MOBILITY’s goal is to add up to 120 more locations across the country in the next four years.
Source: H2 MOBILITY
