Saarbrücken, October 13, 2020 – The partners TOTAL, Air Liquide and H2 MOBILITY have officially heralded the start of construction of the Saarland's first H2 filling station at the TOTAL Station Burbacher Str. 50 in Saarbrückenin the presence of the Minister of Economics, Labor, Energy and Transport, Anke Rehlinger. The future H2 filling station marks an important step for the nationwide supply of hydrogen mobility in Germany. The station will be built by H2 MOBILITY with the technology provided by Air Liquide. The H2 filling station is planned to start operation inspring 2021. Today there are already 86 hydrogen filling stations in Germany.
The filling station, which is located directly on the A620 motorway, will become an important location factor for hydrogen mobility, not only for the city of Saarbrücken and the Saarland in the western part of Germany. Far away from the already existing hydrogen centers Rhine-Ruhr, Frankfurt and Stuttgart, it will also close an important gap on the German hydrogen mobility map.
Hydrogen mobility is a powerful form of electric mobility. On board of the vehicle, a fuel cell generates electrical power to drive the vehicle by reacting hydrogen with oxygen from the air. Fueling is similar to natural gas vehicles. Within only five minutes, energy can be refueled for a range of more than 500 kilometers. In addition to passenger cars, hydrogen is also suitable as an energy carrier for e-mobility in the commercial vehicle sector. Hence, the H2 station in Saarbrücken can be converted and expanded to refuel commercial vehicles. Since hydrogen can be produced from water by electrolysis using renewable electricity, it is an essential energy carrier of the future on the way to climate neutrality and thus the central link between the transformation of the energy system and the mobility sector.
Since 2002 TOTAL Deutschland has been involved in research and pilot projects to develop the hydrogen infrastructure. Currently, there are 26 hydrogen stations in the TOTAL network. Other TOTAL projects in Erfurt, Neuruppin and Hamburg are reaching completion or are under construction. Further projects in Freiburg and Mannheim are in the approval and planning process.
For the construction of the hydrogen station in Saarbrücken H2 MOBILITY received funding of about 950,000 € from the National Innovation Program Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology (NIP) by the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI).