Germany: Air Liquide develops a network of public hydrogen stations

In partnership with Hyundai, Air Liquide has launched a new hydrogen station open to the public in Offenbach am Main, on the outskirts of Frankfurt. A member of the Clean Energy Partnership (CEP) and a founding partner of the H2 Mobility* initiative, Air Liquide continues to deploy the hydrogen distribution infrastructure in Germany and thereby contributes to the development of solutions for clean transportation.

Located on the Hyundai Motor Europe site, the new hydrogen station installed by Air Liquide will be able to refuel hydrogen-powered electric vehicles in less than 5 minutes for a driving range of about 500 kilometers.

Hydrogen constitutes an alternative to fossil fuels and can be produced from diverse energy sources, in particular from renewable energy. This station, which will supply hydrogen produced from biomethane, is part of the Blue Hydrogen initiative developed by Air Liquide to gradually decarbonize the production of hydrogen.

In Germany, Air Liquide opened its first hydrogen station in 2012 in Düsseldorf. The station inaugurated in Offenbach is the second station installed by Air Liquide. Nine additional stations are in the process of being built and will be commissioned in 2017. These installations will complete the nationwide network of 400 stations for passenger vehicles that the German government plans to deploy across the country by 2023, in a bid to encourage the mass production of electric cars powered by hydrogen. The German Ministry of Transportation and Digital Infrastructures co-financed the construction of this new station.

Air Liquide masters the entire hydrogen supply chain, from production to storage and from distribution to the development of applications for end users. To date, more than 75 hydrogen stations have been designed and built by Air Liquide around the world. In Europe, the Group owns and operates public hydrogen stations in the Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium, and France.

* Inter-industry partnership formed to build 400 hydrogen stations in Germany between now and 2023.