The hydrogen infrastructure in Germany continues to grow: at the TOTAL filling station “Karlsruher Straße” in Rastatt/Baden-Württemberg the fueling of hydrogen is now also possible. The joint venture H2 MOBILITY has built the filling station together with its partners TOTAL and Linde. There is now a total of 83 public hydrogen filling stations in Germany, of which 23 are at TOTAL stations and 14 in Baden-Württemberg. The heartland of the automotive industry thus underlines its role in the market launch of this innovative and environmentally friendly form of electromobility.

Nikolas Iwan, Managing Director at H2 MOBILITY Deutschland GmbH & Co. KG: “Hydrogen plays an important role in the transformation of the mobility sector. High range, short refueling time and zero local emissions are the decisive criteria.”

“By expanding the hydrogen network, we are jointly creating the basis for technological diversity in electromobility in Germany. Hydrogen mobility offers the opportunity for high-performance electromobility with considerable advantages for passenger cars over long distances, but especially for commercial vehicles.”, explains Jan Petersen, Director Mobility & New Energies, who leads the infrastructure expansion for alternative mobility concepts at TOTAL Deutschland. “Since 2002 TOTAL Deutschland has been involved in research and pilot projects to develop the hydrogen infrastructure. Other TOTAL projects in Neuruppin, Erfurt and Hamburg are reaching completion or are under construction. Other projects in Saarbrücken and Freiburg are in the planning process. By building the network, we want to send a clear signal to the market, together with our partners.”

The filling station in Rastatt, which is equipped with Linde’s highly efficient Ionic Compressor technology, offers a second refueling possibility for hydrogen vehicles in the Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden area. Its location at Karlsruher Straße 16, not far from the A5 motorway, also strengthens the supply of filling station along the highly frequented north-south traffic axis in the Rhine Valley.

The plant has a capacity of around 200 kilograms of hydrogen – enough to refuel 40 to 50 vehicles a day.

The hydrogen filling station in Rastatt was built by H2 MOBILITY, a joint venture of Air Liquide, Daimler, Linde, OMV, Shell and TOTAL, which has set itself the goal of reaching the mark of 100 filling stations in Germany shortly. This would mark an important step towards the nationwide supply of hydrogen as well as the market launch of hydrogen vehicles.

The refueling process for hydrogen vehicles is intuitive and comparable to natural gas refueling. On board of the vehicle, a fuel cell generates electricity from hydrogen, which then drives an electric motor. With five minutes of refueling time, ranges of up to 500 kilometers are possible. Since hydrogen can be produced by electrolysis from water with renewable electricity, it is also the central link between the transformation of the energy system and the mobility sector.

The hydrogen station in Rastatt is supported by the European Commission in the trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T CEF) in the Connecting Hydrogen Refueling Stations project (COHRS).

About H2 MOBILITY

H2 MOBILITY Deutschland GmbH & Co. KG is responsible for the establishment of a nationwide hydrogen infrastructure for refueling fuel-cell electric vehicles (FCEV, 700 bar technology) in Germany. The first milestone is to operate 100 stations in seven German metropolitan areas (Hamburg, Berlin, Rhine-Ruhr, Frankfurt, Nuremberg, Stuttgart and Munich), as well as along trunk roads and motorways. H2 MOBILITY handles all tasks – planning, construction, operation, and marketing – which are required for successfully expanding and operating the network.

The shareholders of H2 MOBILITY are Air Liquide, Daimler, Linde, OMV, Shell and TOTAL, with BMW, Honda, Hyundai, Toyota and Volkswagen and NOW GmbH (National Organization Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology) serving in an advisory capacity as associated partners.