Public hydrogen fuelling stations can only be economically viable if there is a sufficient number of hydrogen-powered cars to use them. And hydrogen-powered cars cannot take to the streets if they cannot refuel.
A number of landmark industry initiatives and pilot projects are finally resolving this “chicken or egg” dilemma and making real advances in the commercialisation of hydrogen-powered mobility. Industry and policy-makers are working together to establish an infrastructure capable of serving an increasing number of hydrogen-powered vehicles.
Linde engineers have already participated in multiple national and international collaborative hydrogen initiatives. In fact, we are an active partner in almost all major hydrogen projects currently in progress around the world. We contribute expertise along the entire hydrogen value chain, from production and liquefaction through transportation to storage and fuelling technologies for gaseous and liquid hydrogen.
As a result of these initiatives, service stations are already in place in a number of major urban centres such as Berlin, Los Angeles and Tokyo, to name but a few. At the same time, the automotive industry has pledged to bring series-produced fuel-cell cars to market from 2015 onwards.
Below are a sample of demo projects and initiatives that clearly underscore our industry engagement:
Initiatives and Multi-Partner Projects
H2 Mobility initiative to establish a nationwide hydrogen infrastructure in Germany
Participation in EU study to examine the role of battery electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids and fuel cell electric vehicles www.zeroemissionvehicles.eu
Clean Energy Partnership (CEP) to demonstrate the viability of H2 as a transport fuel in real-life conditions
Zero-Regio project to establish a fuelling infrastructure for hydrogen-powered cars in two densely populated urban centres in Europe
California Fuel Cell Partnership to collaborate on activities that advance fuel-cell technology
CHIC to promote the commercialisation, community acceptance and widespread introduction of hydrogen-powered FC buses across Europe
ZEMSHIPS to establish eco-friendly, zero-emission hydrogen ships for the inland waterways of Hamburg
HyWays to develop a European Hydrogen Energy Roadmap
StorHy consortium dedicated to the development of hydrogen storage technologies for the automotive industry.
Developing talent
Flanking these infrastructure-focused projects, we also contribute to educational initiatives that foster an engineering spirit among young students. Since 2011, for example, we have been supporting the Shell Eco-marathon, which challenges student teams around the world to design, build and test energy-efficient vehicles.
The teams that achieve the highest mileage with the best fuel economy figure win. Each year, over 200 teams participate in this competition, designing vehicles to run on conventional fossil fuels and alternative energy sources such as hydrogen – which has emerged as the most successful fuel over the past few years.
We deliver technical support, cylinder filling expertise and hydrogen free of charge to help tomorrow’s engineers find innovative answers to today’s mobility and energy challenges.
Reference hydrogen stations
- AC Transit hydrogen fuelling station, Emeryville, California, USA
- Shell/CEP hydrogen fuelling station, Sachsendamm, Berlin, Germany
- Total/CEP hydrogen fuelling stations, Heerstrasse, Berlin, Germany
- Total/CEP hydrogen fuelling stations, Holzmarktstrasse, Berlin, Germany
- Shell/Itwatani hydrogen fuelling station, Tokyo, Japan
- OMV hydrogen fuelling station, Stuttgart, Germany
- Hydrogen for forklift truck fleet at Walmart/Washington Courthouse, USA
- BMW/Spartanburg, USA hydrogen FLT fuelling station
- Adam Opel AG - world’s first 700 bar (10,000 psi) hydrogen fuelling station as a turnkey project
- Linde Hydrogen Centre in Munich
- Shell/Tongii in Shanghai Anting, China
