Hydrogen clean mobility startup Cryomotive opens its hydrogen refuelling development centre in Pfeffenhausen, Lower Bavaria, near the planned National Hydrogen Innovation and Technology Centre South (ITZ Süd – Wasserstoff Innovations- und Technologiezentrum Süd). In Pfeffenhausen, Cryomotive is now developing, manufacturing and assembling the first prototypes for CRYOGAS hydrogen refuelling systems for heavy-duty commercial vehicles and other mobility applications with high energy requirements.
At the same time, Cryomotive will receive the funding notification for the joint project CryoTRUCK from the Federal Ministry of Digital and Transport (BMDV – Bundesministerium für Digitales und Verkehr) on 9 December 2022, in which Cryomotive, together with its consortium partners MAN Truck & Bus, Clean Logistics, IABG and three Chairs of the Technical University of Munich, will develop and test a first CRYOGAS hydrogen tank system for hydrogen trucks in long-distance transport. The project is funded by the BMDV as part of the National Innovation Programme Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology (NIP II). The funding guideline is coordinated by NOW GmbH, with applications for funding being awarded by the project management organisation Jülich.
Kurt-Christoph von Knobelsdorff, CEO and spokesperson of NOW GmbH, said on the occasion of the handover of the funding notification: “With the CryoTRUCK project, we are supporting the further development of hydrogen-based heavy-duty transport. The project and the test centre provide an important contribution to making zero-emission logistics as flexible as it was previously only possible with diesel- powered vehicles.”
With the opening of the Pfeffenhausen tank development centre, the aim is to accelerate the development of hydrogen tank systems for zero-emission commercial vehicles and to establish a local value chain in the supplier industry. In addition to developing the CRYOGAS hydrogen refuelling system, Cryomotive is also collaborating with partners from the supplier industry and its anchor investor Chart Industries to develop a matching refuelling system with innovative new filling station technology at the Taufkirchen and Pfeffenhausen sites.
Cryomotive’s CRYOGAS hydrogen refuelling systems enable long-haul hydrogen fuel cell trucks to cover up to 1,000 km with a single refuelling time of 10 to 15 minutes.
The Hydrogen Fuelling Development Centre Pfeffenhausen
At the Hydrogen Fuelling Development Centre in Pfeffenhausen, Cryomotive will in future develop, manufacture and assemble CRYOGAS hydrogen tanks for commercial vehicles, buses and ships. In Pfeffenhausen, Cryomotive has a winding plant and furnaces for the production of carbon fibre-reinforced hydrogen pressure tanks suitable for cryogenic temperatures. This will be followed by installation facilities for insulation, assembly, cabling and control application, as well as instrumentation for testing. For the first time, Cryomotive is combining in-house production of Type 3 pressure tanks for cryogenic gas storage with the assembly of complete tank systems for commercial vehicle applications at its Pfeffenhausen site.
In the short term, up to 10 jobs will be created at the Cryomotive site in Pfeffenhausen. Over the medium term, the personnel requirements will grow to 25 to 30 development engineers, production technicians and test bench experts. Cryomotive plans to use the test benches of the upcoming national Hydrogen Innovation and Technology Centre in Pfeffenhausen and to conduct its own tests there.