The German Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development (BMVBS) and several industrial companies signed a joint Letter of Intent to expand the network of hydrogen filling stations in Germany.
By 2015, Germany will have a supply network of at least 50 public filling stations.
As part of the National Innovation Programme for Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology (NIP), Germany’s federal government and industrial sector are investing more than 40 million EUR to expand the country’s network of hydrogen filling stations from currently 15 to 50.
This will serve as a market-relevant testing of innovative filling-station technology and ensure a needs-driven supply for the 5,000 fuel cell vehicles that are expected to be on the road in Germany at that time. The expansion plan focuses on the country’s metropolitan regions and the creation of corridors connecting these metropolitan regions.
The network of hydrogen filling stations accompanies the commercialisation of fuel cell vehicles that the automobile industry has announced for 2014/15. Mobility using hydrogen is already being extensively and successfully tested for everyday use. As the largest demonstration project in the area of hydrogen mobility, the Clean Energy Partnership (CEP) has been doing excellent groundwork since 2002 and continues to collect valuable research and practical results on filling station technology and infrastructure. The standards developed by the partnership will now be used to successfully introduce hydrogen as a fuel in Germany.
