H2-station (Source: OMV)

On 21st May 2015, the first hydrogen filling station opened in Tyrol, Austria. The new station, on the Andechsstrasse in Innsbruck, is situated on one of the most important transit routes in Europe and is part of an existing OMV crude oil filling station at which it will be possible to refuel six fuel cell cars per hour with hydrogen in the future. On the occasion of the official opening, Austrian State Minister Patrizia Zoller-Frischauf made the following comment: “As a heavily used transit country which has to deal with CO2, particulate and noise pollution, we view an emissions-free future with hydrogen extremely positively.”

Alois Wach, Director of the OMV and Avanti filling station business in Germany and Austria, said: “I am convinced that the mobility of the future will offer a wide range of opportunities: from efficient diesel and gasoline vehicle to the urban electric vehicle to the fuel cell vehicle. We are focusing our development work on fuel cells and therefore on hydrogen. This is an innovation which chimes with our core business since we are already producing large quantities of hydrogen for industry at our refineries.”

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Dr. Walter Huber from the IIT (see also interview) reported: “Innsbruck also links up the east-west route between Vienna and Liechtenstein or Switzerland, since OMV – so I have heard – is also considering locations along the freeway in Linz and Salzburg.” Dr. Walter Böhme, Director of Investment Management at OMV summarized matters clearly in 2014: “Things will really start to pick up around 2025, since by then, almost all of the vehicle manufacturers will need so-called zero emissions vehicles to be able to fulfill their CO2 requirements.”