Corporate News
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Daimler, Linde and TOTAL create southern Germany’s first hub
for hydrogen mobility
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Other stations planned by end of 2015; first fuel cell cars to come
on the market
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Funded by the National Innovation Programme (NIP)
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Motorway service areas seen as possible locations forH 2 filling stations
on the autobahn
Geiselwind/Berlin/Munich/Stuttgart, 4 May 2015 - As part of the Clean Energy Partnership (CEP), Daimler, Linde and TOTAL have jointly taken an important step forward in the expansion of Germany’s hydrogen (H 2) infrastructure. In the presence of Dorothee Bär, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure, Germany's first motorway hydrogen filling station was officially inaugurated today. The newH 2 filling pump at the TOTAL motorway service area in Geiselwind on the A3 between Würzburg and Nuremberg links the existing filling facilities in the metropolitan regions of Frankfurt/Main, Stuttgart and Munich with each other, forming a hub for electric fuel cell vehicles in southern Germany.
In her opening speech, State Secretary Bär said: “Electric vehicles with hydrogen fuel cell drives produce no harmful emissions. They have a long range and can refuel in minutes. Politics, science and industry have worked together to bring hydrogen mobility to the brink of market entry. Together with industry, we have provided a total of 1.4 billion euros for research, development and demonstration projects up until 2016. We are now increasingly tackling the development of infrastructure: by the end of 2015, 50 hydrogen filling stations will be available in metropolitan areas and along major roads. The new filling station in Geiselwind brings us one step closer to this target. The nearly one million euros of funding spent on the construction of this filling station is money well spent because good infrastructure is a prerequisite for this new form of mobility to really catch on!”
“Networking the national H 2 infrastructure is the key to success for the market introduction of electric vehicles with fuel cells. Only then can they be a ‘real’ alternative for customers,” says Prof. Dr Herbert Kohler, Vice President Group Research and Sustainability and Chief Environmental Officer at Daimler AG. “That's why we are not only actively investing in the development of the next generation of vehicles, but we are the only car manufacturer to invest in the development of a nationwide network of filling stations in Germany.”
“Thanks to the long range of fuel cell vehicles and this ideally positioned motorway location, we are now one step closer to nationwide coverage,” said Markus Bachmeier, Head of Hydrogen Solutions at Linde. “We are therefore especially pleased to have contributed to this important milestone with our refuelling technology and our sustainably produced hydrogen.”
Guillaume Larroque, Director of Service Stations at TOTAL Germany, emphasised: “We see ourselves as trailblazers in building the hydrogen filling station infrastructure in Germany. We have demonstrated this with our commitment for over twelve years. Including Geiselwind, TOTAL already operates seven of the 18 public H 2 filling stations in Germany – at TOTAL alone, well over 1,000 fuel cell vehicles could already be refuelled with green hydrogen today.”
At the inauguration, Alexander Ruscheinsky, Chairman of the Vereinigung Deutscher Autohöfe e.V. (German Association of Motorway Service Areas – VEDA), said: “The operators of motorway service area are committed to the development of new forms of mobility, and have already opened up their facilities for various electric charging concepts. So it is only logical that the first autobahn hydrogen filling station is at a service area. After all, the fact that they serve both directions of a motorway and intersecting A and B roads makes them an inexpensive way to efficiently develop a new refuelling network.”
TOTAL has invested more than 250,000 euros in Geiselwind and shouldered all construction and approval costs, as well as the project management for installing the hydrogen technology, including service and maintenance components.
With around 90 stations set up in 15 countries, Linde has for many years been a leader in hydrogen technology. It operates the world's first small-series production facility for hydrogen fuelling stations in Vienna, where Linde uses its proprietary IC90 ionic compressor, which combines advantages in power consumption, maintenance and noise.
The construction of a nationwide hydrogen infrastructure in Germany is accompanied by the planned market ramp-up of fuel cell cars from various manufacturers. The Geiselwind site is part of the expansion plan launched in 2012 that will initially expand the German H 2 network from its current 18 locations to 50 – see PDF (German)
With 50 hydrogen filling stations, nationwide mobility between metropolitan areas along the main roads will be possible throughout Germany. Within this expansion programme, the Daimler-Linde initiative is participating in a total of 20 new H 2 stations with a total investment of approximately 20 million euros.
The project is supported by the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure as part of its National Innovation Programme for Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology (NIP). The programme is managed by NOW GmbH (National Organisation for Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology).
About the CEP
The CEP is a beacon project of Germany’s National Innovation Programme for Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology (NIP), which is coordinated by the National Organisation for Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology. 19 companies from the automotive, gas and energy industries and public transport are pursuing the common goal of establishing hydrogen as a fuel in Germany. The German federal government and industry are investing a total of 1.4 billion euros into a public-private partnership under the lead management of Germany’s Federal Transport Ministry and Digital Infrastructure.
About Daimler
Daimler AG is one of the world’s most successful automotive companies. With the divisions of Mercedes-Benz Cars, Daimler Trucks, Mercedes-Benz Vans, Daimler Buses and Daimler Financial Services, the Daimler Group is one of the biggest producers of premium cars and the world’s biggest manufacturer of commercial vehicles with a global reach. Daimler Financial Services provides financing, leasing, fleet management, insurance, financial investments, credit cards, and innovative mobility services. The company’s founders, Gottlieb Daimler and Carl Benz, made history with the invention of the automobile in 1886. As a pioneer of automotive engineering, Daimler continues to shape the future of mobility today. The company focuses on innovative and green technologies as well as on safe and superior cars that appeal and fascinate. Daimler systematically invests in the development of alternative drive systems – up to purely electric vehicles with battery or fuel cell hybrid vehicles - with the goal of making emission-free driving possible in the long term. Moreover, the company vigorously promotes accident-free driving and an intelligent network up to autonomous driving, because Daimler willingly accepts the challenge of meeting its responsibilities towards society and the environment.
Daimler sells its vehicles and services in nearly every country in the world and has production facilities in Europe, North and South America, Asia and Africa. Its current brand portfolio includes the world’s most valuable premium automotive brand, Mercedes-Benz, as well as Mercedes-AMG and Mercedes-Maybach, the smart, Freightliner, Western Star, BharatBenz, Fuso, Setra and Thomas Built Buses brands, as well as the Daimler Financial Services brands: Mercedes-Benz Bank, Mercedes-Benz Financial, Daimler Truck Financial, moovel and car2go. The company is listed on the Frankfurt and Stuttgart stock exchanges (stock exchange code DAI). In 2014, the Group sold more than 2.5 million vehicles and employed 279,972 people. Its revenues totalled €129.9 billion and EBIT amounted to €10.8 billion.
Further information about Daimler is available online at: www.media.daimler.com and www.daimler.com
About The Linde Group
In the 2014 financial year, The Linde Group generated revenue of EUR 17.047 bn, making it the largest gases and engineering company in the world with approximately 65,500 employees working in more than 100 countries worldwide. The strategy of The Linde Group is geared towards long-term profitable growth and focuses on the expansion of its international business with forward-looking products and services. Linde acts responsibly towards its shareholders, business partners, employees, society and the environment – in every one of its business areas, regions and locations across the globe. The company is committed to technologies and products that unite the goals of customer value and sustainable development.
Under the ”Clean Technology by Linde“ label, the company offers a wide range of products and technologies that help to render renewable energy sources financially viable, and significantly slow down the depletion of fossil resources or reduce the level of CO2 emitted. This ranges from specialty gases for solar module manufac¬turing, industrial-scale CO2 separation and application technologies to alternative fuels and energy carriers such as liquefied natural gas (LNG) and hydrogen.
For more information go to www.linde.com/cleantechnology
About TOTAL
Germany is a pioneer in the testing of hydrogen in the transport sector, and for more than twelve years, TOTAL has operated hydrogen filling stations and supported various demonstration projects in partnership with car manufacturers and industrial gas producers. The Clean Energy Partnership (CEP) hydrogen test fleet of just over 50 vehicles, for example, is fuelled with 100% green energy at TOTAL’s flagship multi-energy filling station at Schönefeld airport, Berlin. Here – in addition to conventional quality fuels, LPG and natural gas – quick charge stations for battery-powered electric mobility are also available. The on-site hydrogen production facilities are coupled with a photovoltaic system, and a wind farm is planned. The project partners TOTAL, Linde and McPhy show that zero-emissions mobility from green sources is already practicable today. A sustainable cycle for mobility has been completed. In addition to the CO2 reduction achieved by using green hydrogen, the domestic production of wind hydrogen can make an important contribution to security of supply. In this way, hydrogen can play an important role as a storage medium for renewable energy and for the energy shift.
The first motorway filling station in Geiselwind is the seventh H 2 station that TOTAL operates in Germany: four are in Berlin, and one each in Munich and Hamburg. Additional stations are planned in Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, Hamburg and North Rhine-Westphalia, among other places, as part of the federal government’s programme to establish 50 H 2 filling stations.
For more information:
| The Linde Group
Stefan Metz Telefon +49.89.35757-1322 stefan.metz@linde.com |
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| Daimler AG
Koert Groeneveld Telefon +49.711.17-92311 |
Madeleine Herdlitschka Telefon +49.711.17-76409 |
| TOTAL Deutschland
Manuel Fuchs +49 162 1333557 manuel.fuchs@total.de | CEP
Claudia Fried +49 172 3992266 cf@cleanenergypartnership.de |