Drivers of fuel-cell powered electric cars can now refuel at more and more filling stations. H2 MOBILITY Deutschland and its shareholders Shell and Linde have jointly opened the first hydrogen station in Rheda-Wiedenbrück (Gütersloh district). It is the 15th in North Rhine-Westphalia, and an addition to Germany’s increasingly dense network of hydrogen filling stations.
The new facility at the Shell station at Bielefelder Straße 145 is located directly at the Rheda-Wiedenbrück exit of the BAB 2 motorway. It is an important link for travellers coming from the direction of Berlin and Hanover and heading towards the Rhine/Ruhr area.
The project owner is H2 MOBILITY Deutschland; the filling-station technology in Rheda-Wiedenbrück comes from the gas and technology company Linde. H2 MOBILITY is a joint venture that is establishing a hydrogen infrastructure in Germany.
The station in Rheda-Wiedenbrück is state-of-the-art, and driver-side operation of the filling facilities is intuitive: the process is similar to refuelling conventional vehicles and takes three to five minutes. It uses Linde’s highly efficient IC90 ionic compressor, which has a capacity of 160 – 400 kg per day.
E-Mobility with hydrogen reduces CO2 emissions
Hydrogen offers an opportunity to expand the range of fuels available in the transport sector in a climate-friendly way: the use of hydrogen produced with renewable energy can significantly reduce climate-damaging CO2 emissions. Operating a hydrogen-powered fuel-cell vehicle causes no local pollutants or carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. The range of these vehicles is between 500 and 700 kilometres on a full tank.
For electromobility with H2 to become a success story, an attractive range of fuel-cell vehicles and an appropriate supply infrastructure are needed. The expansion of the corresponding filling station network is progressing well. There are currently 70 H2 filling stations in Germany; by the end of 2019 there will be 100 stations nationwide. In Shell’s filling-station network alone, there are already 25 hydrogen facilities, 6 of them in NRW.
The hydrogen station in Rheda-Wiedenbrück is funded by the European Commission in the trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T CEF) as part of the Connecting Hydrogen Refuelling Stations (COHRS) project.
Hydrogen-powered fuel-cell vehicles are currently available from carmakers Hyundai, Daimler and Toyota. The new Hyundai Nexo will be on-site at the inauguration of the new hydrogen filling station in Rheda-Wiedenbrück.
Comments by participants on the opening of the H2 station in Rheda-Wiedenbrück:
Thomas Zengerly, Chairman of the Board of Shell Deutschland Oil GmbH:
“Hydrogen technology is a promising technology and H2 a fuel for clean mobility. We expect that from the 2020s on, this alternative drive will play an increasingly important role in markets including Germany, England, the Benelux countries, the USA and Japan. We at Shell are on track for this.”
Dr Christian Bruch, Member of the Executive Board of Linde AG:
“Hydrogen technology plays a decisive role in the spread of electromobility. High ranges, short refuelling times, and good on-site storage capacities are crucial criteria. Linde technologies are used at all key points in the H2 value chain and ensure high efficiency.”
Nikolas Iwan, Managing Director H2 MOBILITY Deutschland GmbH:
“Hydrogen offers electric mobility without limitations: rapid acceleration, short refuelling times, and long ranges. We are pleased to see more and more hydrogen pioneers using our growing network of filling stations. 100 stations will be in operation by the end of 2019! If you want, you can use our H2.LIVE app to track our progress.”
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PRESSEKONTAKTE:
Shell Deutschland Oil GmbH
Axel Pommeränke, +49 (0)40 6324 5290, shellpress@shell.com
Linde AG
Thomas Schaefer, +49 (0)89 7446-2464, thomas.kurt.schaefer@linde.com
H2 MOBILITY Deutschland GmbH & Co. KG
Sybille Riepe, +49 (0)170 58 70 317, riepe@h2-mobility.de