Suppliers
Even heavyweight suppliers such as Bosch are now clearly putting hydrogen front and center. The head of Bosch’s supervisory board has announced the company’s ambition to have 40,000 fuel cell systems on the road by 2025. It is hoped that Bosch technology will not just be used in the trucks of customers such as Nikola but will also find their way into agricultural and construction machinery that will one day be powered by hydrogen engines. The group is also working with its subsidiary Bosch Rexroth on refueling station construction – together with compressor manufacturer Maximator Hydrogen. What’s more, in 2021, Bosch and Chinese vehicle manufacturer Qingling set up the joint venture Bosch Hydrogen Powertrain Systems.
Forvia, which describes itself as the seventh biggest automotive supplier in the world, exhibited a new cryogenic hydrogen storage solution for heavy-duty applications for the first time together with its two brands – Faurecia and Hella. This compact storage system, which was co-developed with Air Liquide, can transport the same quantity of hydrogen at a 40 percent reduced volume. Also on offer from Forvia were gaseous hydrogen systems, ranging from an 80-kilogram hydrogen storage solution to a 150-kilowatt fuel cell stack, which is provided by Symbio. In terms of light commercial vehicles, the French company is cooperating closely with Stellantis which, still in the form of the PSA Group, was a major shareholder in Forvia until 2021.
Canadian fuel cell manufacturer Loop Energy used the IAA as a springboard for its new S1200 module for the bus and truck market. According to President and CEO Ben Nyland, the unit is up to 60 percent fuel efficient. This comparatively high net efficiency level, which within the output range of 20 to 80 kilowatts only drops by 10 percent (peak power of 120 kilowatts), is made possible by eFlow technology – a mechanical process that allows media to flow more easily through the stack. This system has yet to appear on the market but, in Nyland’s words, Loop will “get more involved when the market grows.” The current plan is to roll out a test vehicle in the first half of 2023 and to start commercialization in the second half of the year. Initial orders have already been received following the trade fair.
Neumünster becomes hydrogen hub
Shortly before the IAA, companies Hypion and Resato Hydrogen Technology signed a contract stating their intention to build ten hydrogen filling stations in northern Germany. The collaboration is due to kick off with an automated public refueling station with 350- and 700-bar facilities for heavy-duty transport vehicles in the Neumünster Süd industrial park (capacity: 2,000 kilograms of hydrogen per day). The aim is to offer refueling to companies in the logistics, retail and construction industries at the Neumünster hydrogen hub from the second quarter of 2023. Seven hydrogen trucks are expected to be supplied by Clean Logistics (see box on p. 35).
Stefan Rehm, Hypion project lead, explained: “It’s only possible to achieve commercial viability with a totally different magnitude of sales in the order of several hundred kilograms of hydrogen a day. The project will ideally provide an appropriate boost for the launch of clean freight transport with green hydrogen onto the market.” Hypion is a joint venture between engineering consultancy IPP Projects, the Heide regional development agency, EDF Deutschland and HanseWerk.
Source: Hypion
Author: Sven Geitmann
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