Europe’s largest H2 refuelling station opens in Düsseldorf

With its significantly higher daily capacity, the new facility on Höherweg is set to set ‘new standards in the field of hydrogen mobility’, as the operator H2 Mobility announced at the opening. The filling station was planned and implemented together with Stadtwerke Düsseldorf and Rheinbahn, who “jointly conceived and realised the topics of H2 production, infrastructure and demand” in this project.

In addition to the capacity of up to five tonnes of hydrogen per day, the new generation of filling stations is characterised by the fact that up to three vehicles can be refuelled at the same time – “thanks to patent-pending high-performance technology,” as they stated. However, the focus is on commercial vehicles with fuel cell drives, such as trucks, buses and light commercial vehicles. Hydrogen cars can also use the new facility, but unlike the earlier plans with the first generation of refuelling stations, the focus is no longer on passenger cars.

One of the main users will be the Rheinbahn, Düsseldorf’s municipal public transport operator. The new refuelling station is located not far from the Lierenfeld depot and should make life much easier for the Rheinbahn’s 20 FC buses. The Urbino 12 Hydrogen from Solaris previously had to travel to the Reisholz district to refuel at the 350-bar H2 Mobility refuelling station there. In future, these diversions will no longer be necessary. “The new hydrogen refuelling station marks another milestone on our journey towards emission-free mobility. With its commissioning, we are now optimally positioned in terms of infrastructure to refuel our hydrogen buses flexibly and efficiently and to use them reliably in regular service,” said Rheinbahn board member Annette Grabbe. “The vehicles have already proven themselves in daily use – our drivers appreciate the travelling comfort and their performance.”

The hydrogen for the refuelling station is currently still being supplied, but will be produced on site from next year. Stadtwerke Düsseldorf then wants to put the announced electrolyser into operation, which draws its electricity from its own waste incineration plant – and is therefore powered by renewable energy on paper. “This regional energy cycle reduces emissions significantly and sustainably,” says H2 Mobility.

‘This filling station is a milestone for hydrogen mobility in Europe and represents a new generation of H2 filling stations with more pumps for 350, 500 and 700 bar, larger hydrogen volumes and significantly more powerful technology,’ emphasises Frank Fronzke, Managing Director and COO of H2 Mobility. ‘With our innovative high-performance technology, we enable fast, flexible refuelling for buses, trucks and cars – and thus make a concrete contribution to the transport transition.’

Dagmar Fehler, spokesperson and CEO of NOW GmbH, was among those who came to Düsseldorf for the opening of the new filling station – both the filling station and the electrolyser were supported with federal funding as part of the National Innovation Programme Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology Phase 2 – the corresponding funding guideline is coordinated by NOW. The funding amounts to a total of 3,137,000 euros for the Düsseldorf-Höherweg hydrogen refuelling station (HyLight3) and 1,212,000 euros for the electrolyser.

h2-mobility.de (in German)