Both companies will team up with oil and gas companies TOTAL, OMV, Avia and Hoyer this year to significantly increase the number of hydrogen fueling stations in Germany. To this end, Daimler and Linde will invest around EUR 10 million in ten stations each. On 29 September, the first of the Daimler- and Linde-initiated public stations for fuel-cell vehicles was officially opened at a TOTAL multi-energy station on Jafféstrasse in Berlin-Charlottenburg.
The following stations are expected to be operational by the end of 2015. TOTAL sites will be located in Geiselwind, Bavaria; Fellbach, Stuttgart region; Ulm; Karlsruhe; Neuruppin, Brandenburg; Cologne-Bonn Airport; and Berlin city center (upgrade of the existing fueling station at Holzmarktstrasse). OMV stations will be in Greater Munich area; Greater Nuremberg area; and Greater Stuttgart area. Finally, there will be a station in Stuttgart-East, at an AVIA facility; and other in Leipzig, at a Hoyer site.
“We are pleased to be driving this expansion of Germany’s H2 fueling network and supporting initiatives like the Clean Energy Partnership (CEP),” said Andreas Opfermann, Head of Clean Energy & Innovation Management at Linde. Moreover, Herbert Kohler, Vice President of Research & Sustainability and CEO at Daimler AG, stated: “The aim is to enable motorists to reach any destination in Germany in their hydrogen-fueled vehicles. This is a huge step forward on the journey to a truly nationwide H2 network.”
Negotiations on the details and construction of the remaining seven refueling locations with additional partners are at an advanced stage. The National Organization Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology (NOW) is supporting the project as part of the Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology National Innovation Program (NIP). Moreover, Linde already secures half of the hydrogen for existing CEP fueling stations from “green” sources, and it will power the 20 new stations with fully regenerative hydrogen.
Source: Daimler
