by Hydrogeit | Oct 16, 2024 | Europe, Germany, Hydrogen economy, News
Things have become quiet in H2 mobility. At the cafe tables and also on Facebook, the topic of fuel cell versus battery-powered vehicles is discussed much less frequently and more subdued than it was two years ago, since it is gradually starting to sink in that hydrogen cars will not be available at first in large numbers.
At the earliest the end of this decade – probably more in the 30’s – could the topic of H2 cars become relevant again. Until then, Toyota und Hyundai – the only two relevant providers in this sector – have to see how they can get by with the slowly growing H2 refueling station network (see p. 32) and also the low demand.
The German transport ministry’s progressive move away from hydrogen technology with the planned conversion of NOW GmbH into an electromobility agency (see p. 6) is just one example of many.
The topic of hydrogen vehicles has not completely been abandoned, however, since something is brewing in the commercial vehicle sector, even if only slowly. The large corporations are rather cautious, but medium-sized companies are making moves. For example, this summer, FES GmbH Fahrzeug-Entwicklung Sachsen from Zwickau showed what’s going on. In the presence of the minister-president of Sachsen Michael Kretschmer as well as the former federal transport minister Andreas Scheuer, the eastern German company had a fuel cell truck drive out of the factory gate from which Trabants used to roll.
It is not surprising that technological leaps are more likely to be initiated by smaller players: They are the ones who act somewhat flexibly and react more quickly to changes in the market – in the case of FES because the company owner has been won over by hydrogen and is pushing the development of its know-how in the subject.
Large corporations, on the other hand, boast of innovative-looking prototypes at vehicle trade fairs such as the IAA, but hardly put any of it on the road – not for years (except Hyundai). Instead, they’re attaching themselves to extravagant technologies (e.g. liquid hydrogen, LH2) that require an entire infrastructure of their own and thus slow down the expansion of the pressurized hydrogen infrastructure, because the decision-makers are still unsure which horse they should bet on.
As long as it is not clear whether LH2 or GH2 will prevail and what ranges will be possible with solid-state batteries, there will be no noticeable progress – neither in the development of infrastructure nor in the development of production capacities for electric commercial vehicles.
Ultimately, only medium-sized businesses or start-ups can change this. The big players are too committed to the well-being of shareholders and are relying on the income from the current business model rather than changing fundamental things. Any cleanroom discussions at the European level won’t help either, because only lip service is paid there, while no concrete investment decisions are made.
Movement will only come into the system when a courageous start-up comes around the corner with a disruptive technology or a medium-sized company comes up with a new business concept. For example, if someone comes up with the idea of simply replacing entire electric tractors when their batteries are empty, just as horses used to be changed on carriage rides so that the brisk tour could continue.
The idea of battery changing stations failed years ago in Europe because German car manufacturers didn’t want to let anyone touch their hardware. But if a trucker after a coffee break simply had the trailer pulled on by an electric truck with a fully charged battery, there would be neither range restrictions nor hardware problems with the manufacturers.
Even if this idea cannot be implemented directly – usually, disruptive concepts do not arise from backward-looking, traditional companies, but especially from dynamic players who overcome rigid thought structures and think about the needs of future generations in truly innovative ways.
But until that happens, we will probably have to watch the chicken-and-egg game for a while longer and see how the H2 infrastructure development progresses just as sluggishly as the development of production capacities for fuel cell-powered commercial vehicles.
by Hydrogeit | Oct 16, 2024 | Development, Europe, Germany, hydrogen development, News
FES unveils H2 truck in Zwickau
Where East Germany’s famous Trabant cars were once made, H2 trucks will now exit cleanly from the production hall. This technological shift from two-stroke engines to fuel cell trucks won’t just benefit automotive service provider FES. Michael Kretschmer, minister president of the German state of Sachsen who witnessed the milestone on July 22, 2024, hopes the region as a whole will reap the rewards.
Minister President Kretschmer said at the presentation: “The unveiling of the FES fuel cell truck is an excellent example of the innovative capability and technical know-how present in Sachsen. Such projects are essential to position Sachsen as a leading center in advanced vehicle development while also contributing significantly to the protection of the environment.”
Former Trabant production site
FES can trace its origins back to 1904 when August Horch Motorwagenwerke was founded. This later gave rise to the Sachsenring Automobilwerke Zwickau in 1957 which became known for the development and production of East Germany’s iconic car – the Trabant – also affectionately known as the “Trabi.”
Following German reunification, in 1992 the company emerged as FES. A member of the Volke Group, FES has since established itself as a development service provider for national and international automotive manufacturers, various suppliers as well as the railroad and aerospace industries. It now employs approximately 850 members of staff.
FES’ ambition is to develop and manufacture vehicles that facilitate “sustainable and environmentally friendly mobility.” That includes both battery and fuel cell power systems. FES has been working in the electric transportation sector for 15 years; seven years ago it was decided to also integrate fuel cells, such as the FEScell system. According to company information, this is the “world’s smallest fuel cell system for autonomous internal logistics vehicles.” In series production since 2021, the systems have been used in industrial trucks at the BMW factory in Leipzig, for instance.
Fig. 2: Cars through the ages – from Trabi to Audi
Christian Schwamberger, CEO of FES (see fig. 1), explained: “In our view, hydrogen is […] a genuine alternative to the internal combustion engine even for goods transportation.” All those involved are particularly proud that “this innovative project” could be carried out “entirely using internal funds and without state support.”
“You have shown through quality and performance that you have what it takes.”
Sachsen’s Minister President Michael Kretschmer
Latest technology from Sachsen
The H2 truck is a production-ready vehicle weighing 18 metric tons which can be variously configured in terms of overall weight (up to 26 metric tons) and layout according to customer specifications. The fuel cell that is used – just like the tank system – is provided by technology partner Toyota; the powertrain is supplied by Framo, which is based in Löbichau.
The electric dual engine has a continuous output of 280 kilowatts, 120 kW of which is delivered by the fuel cell (170 kW from 2025). The LiFePO4 battery enables a maximum output of 308 kW for 30 seconds (the battery can be recharged via a Combined Charging System). According to FES, this type of battery is slightly heavier, but the associated fire risk is lower than in comparable systems.
The carbon-composite hydrogen tanks are located behind the cab and hold 33 kilograms at 700 bar, sufficient energy for the 350- to 500-kilometers (215- to 310-mile) range. FES’ head of development Hartmut Schimmel (see image on page 4) commented: “We built the truck to meet 700 bar, but it can be filled at any 350-bar station.” What’s more, additional H2 tanks can be installed if required.
The base vehicle is a third-generation MAN TGM and can be repaired – if necessary – at a regular workshop. The electric rear axle is designed for 1 million kilometers (620,000 miles), reported Schimmel with pride. He added that this is “no junior research project”; rather the FC truck is “entirely suitable for long distance.”
In addition, Schimmel led H2-international to understand that the FC truck will be available to preorder shortly and ready for delivery from 2025 onward. This assumes that potentially interested parties are now actually prepared to place orders.
Fig. 3: Alongside company owner Martin Volke (left), the former German transportation minister Andreas Scheuer was among the guests of honor – here in conversation with Rainer Albrecht, the founding shareholder of FES in 1992 (right)
by Hydrogeit | Oct 6, 2024 | Europe, News
More providers and larger locations
For some months now, more and more companies have been entering the market for H2 refueling stations. Although their total number still have not substantially increased, increasingly more well-established as well as numerous new providers are announcing their intentions of opening additional locations for the supply of hydrogen.
A rather new player is, for example, Mint Hydrogen, which operated under the name Jet H2 Energy until March 2024. The Hamburg-based subsidiary of H2 Energy Europe opened its first hydrogen refueling station in Giengen an der Brenz in mid-May this year. The location is situated on the mobility hub of Jet Tankstellen Deutschland GmbH, on the federal highway A7. Oliver Reichert, Manager Retail Germany of Jet, called the Jet mobility hub, which employs the refueling technology of Maximator Hydrogen GmbH, a “reference project for us.”
Clifford zur Nieden, CEO of Mint Hydrogen Germany GmbH, added, “A reliable refueling infrastructure is crucial for the development of a regional ecosystem for renewable hydrogen and particularly important for the decarbonization of heavy goods traffic.” It is planned that vehicles from partner companies, among others, like Hyundai Hydrogen Mobility, Hylane, Keyou, Stellantis and Arthur Bus, will fill up at the new refueling station.
TotalEnergies and Air Liquide found TEAL
A clear commitment to hydrogen has also been placed by Air Liquide and TotalEnergies, as they announced at Hannover Messe 2024 that they will jointly establish a new brand: With TEAL Mobility, the two heavyweights founded a joint venture that wants to have more than one hundred H2 refueling stations for heavy commercial vehicles in operation under the TotalEnergies brand within the next ten years in Europe. By the end of 2024, there will be around 20 stations across France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany.
Meanwhile Tyczka Hydrogen plans to build its third hydrogen refueling station in Bavaria starting mid-2025. In Geretsried, not far from the highways A70, A71 and A7, a station is to go into operation in the first half of 2026 designed for a refueling capacity of one tonne per day.
The second H2 refueling station from Tyczka, which was funded with 2 million euros by the Bavarian ministry for economy, state development and energy (StMWi) during the Bavarian refueling station program, was opened in the logistics hub Güterverkehrszentrum Augsburg June 17, 2024. Potential users of this location are Arthur Bus, BMW, Daimler Bus, Hylane, Keyou, Kühl Entsorgung, MAN, Paul Group, Quantron, SFC and Still.
“The new hydrogen refueling station is an important signal for the entire industry and a milestone for our joint efforts in sustainable mobility,” stated Thomas Zorn, managing director of Tyczka Hydrogen GmbH.
New high-performance refueling stations
Parallel to this, the construction of a hydrogen refueling station in Frankenthal from H2 Mobility and BASF is being driven forward. After important components were delivered in May 2024, the partners are planning the start of operation for the fourth quarter of 2024. Initially, 700 to 800 kilograms of hydrogen will be able to be refueled there (corresponds to more than 30 trucks or buses). The capacity is expected to double by 2027. “Demand for heavy-duty transport will also increase significantly in this region. That is why we are building new sites like the one in Frankenthal many times larger than a few years ago. In future, up to three vehicles will be able to refuel here at the same time, including buses and trucks at 350 bar and light commercial vehicles and cars at 700 bar,” according to Martin Jüngel, managing director and CFO of H2 Mobility Deutschland.
Tilmann Hezel, Senior Vice President Infrastructure at BASF location Ludwigshafen, added: “CO2-free hydrogen is an integral part of our energy transformation at the location in Ludwigshafen. At the same time, hydrogen and a sufficient H2 infrastructure are essential for a shift towards alternative drive systems. We want to use this intersection: With projects such as the H2 refueling station, but also the water electrolyzer currently under construction, we would like to support regional mobility as well as our suppliers and transportation companies at the location in switching to vehicles with fuel cell drives.”
Dr. Doris Wittneben, head of future fields and innovation at Metropolregion Rhein-Neckar GmbH, was pleased that with the hydrogen refueling station in Frankenthal, which is a component of the project H2Rivers (details coming in H2-international Feb. 2025), “another important component of the hydrogen ecosystem is being launched in the Rhein-Neckar region.”
H2 Mobility currently has over 80 public 700-bar refueling stations. Four more are in planning, construction or start of operation. In addition, the infrastructure provider owns 27 stations for the refueling at 350 bar. And 15 more 350-bar refueling options are in implementation.
Frank Fronzke, managing director and COO of H2 Mobility, declared in spring 2024 at an opening ceremony: “In Heidelberg today, one of the most significant refueling station projects of the year is officially going into operation. The size and performance of the new stations [Heidelberg, summer 2024 in Mannheim, end of 2024 in Frankenthal, beginning of 2025 in Ludwigshafen – editor’s note] represent a new H2 refueling station generation. Using powerful technology, several 350- and 700-bar vehicle types can refuel at the same location – buses, trucks, light commercial vehicles and cars.”
“Europe’s highest performing H2 refueling station”
In March 2024, construction began on a high-performance hydrogen refueling station in Düsseldorf that will have a daily capacity of over five tonnes – that is more than ten times the capacity of H2 stations currently in operation and over three times the locations that were built four or five years ago. Partners involved are, in addition to H2 Mobility, also Hoerbiger as well as Ariel.
At the focus of this new station stands a compact yet powerful compressor, which, according to the information from the manufacturer, addresses the essential customer needs of the H2 industry. Its eHydroCOM system enables a mass flow of over 250 kg/h at both low and high suction pressures, making it ideal for heavy-duty refueling stations or trailer refueling systems. The high degree of standardization and the design with compact and space-saving packaging also enables rapid scalability, making it easier for system operators to achieve their total cost of ownership targets.
by Hydrogeit | Jun 12, 2024 | Europe, international, News
Up until now, Italian company Landi Renzo has been mainly known for its conversion sets for gas engines. Now the automotive supplier, which employs more than 1,200 staff globally, is venturing into the hydrogen sector and developing an advanced electronic pressure regulator for medium- and heavy-duty vehicles with H2 combustion engines.
The Cavriago-based company has joined forces with German group Bosch to help it broaden its range beyond components for natural gas, biomethane or LPG. Its aim is to produce and market hydrogen-based fuel systems with next-generation mechatronic pressure regulators before the end of 2024. In doing so, Landi Renzo hopes to become an enabler of carbon-neutral commercial vehicle operation and thus play a part in accelerating the decarbonization of the mobility and transport sector.
Damiano Micelli, head of technology, commented: “This mechatronic hydrogen pressure regulator is an important milestone in technological advancement which we are able to offer to the rapidly evolving mobility and transportation market. […] This is a highly innovative solution that will be available shortly for medium- and heavy-duty applications.”
Pressure regulators are a key element in conversion kits since they help to balance out large pressure differences and, if needed, change the state of a particular fuel. According to Landi Renzo, “a simple and robust mechanical regulator” was previously sufficient to fulfill this function. However, mechatronic pressure regulators such as the EM-H can also control and calibrate the hydrogen delivery pressure in line with vehicle requirements. In a two-stage process, the inlet pressure is initially reduced mechanically from high to medium. The pressure is then lowered entirely electronically to the desired value.
Landi Renzo has over 70 years of experience in the automotive and energy sectors and its facilities include an H2 center of excellence in Bologna which has a well-equipped, modular Class 8 clean room.
by Marcel Corneille | Jun 5, 2024 | Germany, News
Creating planning security through the development of H2 infrastructure
We have long discussed the question of what comes first when ramping up hydrogen mobility. But this chicken-and-egg problem doesn’t actually exist: The refueling station always comes first! Why this is so exemplifies the first hydrogen refueling station in Gießen.
In August 2023, the first hydrogen refueling station in the regional district Gießen, from Roth Holding & Co. KG, was put into operation under the label “Clean Energy Station.” Before the preceding planning and approval phase, operator Frank Roth had asked himself two essential questions: Do I have customers for the hydrogen refueling station today? And does the legal framework clearly define what green hydrogen is?
In both cases, the answer was no. But the feeling was: The customer wants green hydrogen, so I’m going to start building a corresponding refueling station. Even during the construction phase, it became clear that customers were coming and wanting green hydrogen. How did it work out so well?
The station
This station located on Schiffenberger Weg is suitable for all vehicle types and as a multi-energy station offers diesel, gasoline, electricity and hydrogen. Green hydrogen is produced on site from the company’s own regional wind and solar power plants. Generation by electrolysis takes place with a 1.25‑MWel PEM electrolyzer, which can be expanded to 2.5 MWel and will be able to produce in the expansion stage up to 36 kgH2 per hour. The H2 storage system at the station can store up to two metric tons of hydrogen.
The hydrogen is delivered to buses and trucks at 350 bar and to cars at 700 bar. To compensate for fluctuations in generation or demand, external electricity can also be fed into the electrolyzer. Hydrogen can also be delivered by truck using a trailer solution. Furthermore, excess hydrogen produced can also be delivered, likewise by trailer, to other refueling stations or customers in the area. This makes the station very flexible and able to handle a wide scope of demand as well as supply other customers if needed.
Fig. 2: The H2 value chain – from H2 generation based on renewables to fleet operation. The key components are highlighted in orange.
What is important?
H2 refueling stations, as a nucleus for the energy transition and sector coupling, are indispensable. They connect renewable electricity with mobility customers. The chicken-and-egg problem is often discussed here. Practice shows that it is an unnecessary discussion. The refueling station must be there first. It is then able to attract customers in a variety of ways. The key point here is that it creates planning security for all parties involved.
With the station in Gießen, for example, the operator Roth and all project participants told connections in their networks about the construction of the refueling station. They very quickly expressed an interest in the hydrogen. Two examples are the initiatives H2-Lernwerkstatt in the regional district Gießen (see box 1) and the HyWheels Hessenflotten-Cluster from Fulda (see box 2). The engineering firm Emcel was involved in the planning and approval of the station and promoted networking with these two initiatives, which were developed along with Emcel.
Summary
Hydrogen refueling stations are advancing the clean transportation transition. As direct customers, fleet customers such as the H2-Lernwerkstatt and HYWHEELS Hessenflotten-Cluster are benefitting because they do not have to worry about having a hydrogen supply themselves. But for the delivery of hydrogen to the refueling station and the storage of renewable energy, refueling stations are also welcome customers. The most important factor in this phase of the H2 market ramp-up, however, is the planning security that hydrogen refueling stations offer for the clean energy and drive transition. Private and business customers can thus reliably tackle their fleet conversion.
Box 1: H2-Lernwerkstatt in district Gießen
The learning workshop (Lernwerkstatt) was developed, together with Emcel, out of the e-coach bus consultations that the state of Hessen energy agency (LandesEnergieAgentur, LEA Hessen) was offering, and was significantly implemented by Fahma Fahrzeugmanagement GmbH. The learning workshop allows bus companies in the district of Gießen and the surrounding area a low-threshold entry into electric public transport, which is associated with a relatively low financial risk. They can gain experience with hydrogen buses, and at the same time the citizens familiarize themselves with hydrogen-powered public transport.
The projects H2-Tankstelle (refueling station) and H2-Lernwerkstatt are combined for mutual benefit: The refueling station enables bus operation and provides the learning workshop with a sure source of hydrogen, and the learning workshop provides the refueling station with regular customers with a corresponding demand for hydrogen.
Box 2: HyWheels Hessenflotten-Cluster
The HyWheels Hessenflotten-Cluster emerged from a study that was used to develop a detailed concept for hydrogen-based transport logistics in the region Fulda in year 2020/21. The cluster represents a central point of contact for players from the shipping and infrastructure sectors (refueling stations as well as service and maintenance) and has set itself the goal of providing shipping companies with a low-threshold entry into hydrogen-powered commercial vehicle transport. These benefit from easier procurement of fuel cell trucks, accessible H2 infrastructure and lower financial risks. Refueling station operators such as H2-Tankstelle Gießen in turn gain further hydrogen customers.
Fig. 3: The HyWheels Hessenflotten-Cluster offers the shown players synergy effects and added value through networking and cooperation.
Author: Marcel Corneille, Emcel GmbH, Köln
