H2 MOBILITY News, District of Düren, 4 Nov. 2022 | Partners H2 MOBILITY Deutschland, Shell and Air Liquide today launched the operations optimisation phase at the Shell filling station at Im Großen Tal 1. Fuel cell buses and cars can now refuel with hydrogen (H2) in Düren as well.
The H2 filling station is now regularly available for refuelling hydrogen buses and trucks at 350 bar and passenger cars at 700 bar. Part of the commissioning process, operations optimisation is a standard procedure during which final work is still being carried out in the background.
“I am very pleased that it is now also possible to refuel with hydrogen in the Düren district. This is another important building block in our hydrogen strategy. The filling station is enormously important to further advance the innovation topic of hydrogen,” said District Administrator Wolfgang Spelthahn.
“Rurtalbus GmbH is pleased to be able to use the state-of-the-art hydrogen filling station in such a convenient location for the hydrogen fleet with immediate effect. This hydrogen filling station represents an important infrastructure facility for the steadily growing hydrogen bus fleet for the next few years and is an essential building block for the stepwise conversion of the bus fleet to hydrogen,” added Nik Asbach, Managing Director of Rurtalbus.
Hydrogen is used to power FCEVs (fuel cell electric vehicles). Their advantages: no noise and no pollutants, but the same use, speed, and range as vehicles with petrol or diesel engines. Hydrogen cars have ranges of up to 700 kilometres and refuel in just three to five minutes; buses, like conventional buses, need about 15 minutes to refuel, for a range of up to 300 kilometres.
The Düren hydrogen station is conveniently located on the A4 motorway and closes the supply gap between Cologne and Aachen. The station complements the 19 hydrogen filling stations in NRW to date.
The district of Düren already operates three H2 vehicles in its fleet, as well as five hydrogen buses. Hydrogen cars are also in use in neighbouring municipalities. Once the Brainergy Park in Jülich is completed, the filling station can be supplied with green, regeneratively produced hydrogen.
Europe’s leading operator of hydrogen filling stations, H2 MOBILITY Deutschland, is responsible for the hydrogen filling station’s construction and operation. The filling station technology at the new H2 filling station is supplied by the industrial gases and technology company Air Liquide. More than 500 kilograms of hydrogen are stored at the station, and vehicles can be refuelled at two pressure levels, 700 and 350 bar.
The Federal Ministry of Digital Affairs and Transport funded the construction of the hydrogen filling station with a total of EUR 1.37 million under its National Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology Innovation Programme. The funding directive is coordinated by NOW GmbH and implemented by the Jülich Project Management (PtJ).
The hydrogen filling station network in Germany
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 filling stations in Germany. 350-bar refuelling for buses and trucks is also possible at some of these stations.
H2 MOBILITY continues to expand the hydrogen filling station infrastructure in focus regions and along the TEN-T corridors in line with demand. In addition, existing 700-bar hydrogen filling stations will be expanded short-term to include 350-bar pumps.
Contact details:
Sybille Riepe, H2 MOBILITY Deutschland, riepe@h2-mobility.de, 0170 587 03 17
For more information, please visit www.h2-mobility and https://h2.live/
Caption (left to right): District Administrator Wolfgang Spelthahn, Anne Schüssler