OMV in partnership with Linde AG and Daimler AG recently opened Baden-Württemberg’s first publicly accessible hydrogen filling station on the site of the OMV service station at Stuttgart Airport. The project is centered on the use of hydrogen as an environment-friendly energy medium. Hydrogen filling stations represent an important step toward reducing dependence on fossil fuels in the long term and coming a step closer to emission-free sustainable mobility.

The innovative hydrogen filling station will serve fuel cell vehicles of the latest generation, such as the Mercedes-Benz B-Class F-CELL, with 700-bar high-pressure technology. Small-series production of this vehicle is to commence later this year in Germany.

 

The proximity of the OMV service station to Stuttgart Airport – a major transport hub – and to Daimler AG’s research and development centers, together with the cooperative contact between the two companies, is providing the basis for the establishment of Baden-Württemberg’s first publicly accessible hydrogen filling station. Within the framework of a public-private partnership, the hydrogen station will provide an important impulse for a future supply network for this state, thus supporting the operation of locally emission-free electric vehicles on the basis of fuel cell technology.

The development of new drive technologies is crucial to Baden-Württemberg’s automotive industry and will ensure that it can emerge with renewed strength from the current crisis and participate in the race for international technological leadership. Hydrogen technology plays a decisive role here. With the opening of this filling station the basis for the establishment of a public infrastructure of the energy medium hydrogen is provided.

“It is not sufficient to develop new drive technologies. In addition an appropriate infrastructure is needed,” said Baden-Württemberg’s Minister of the Environment, Tanja Gönner. “This initiative is a key component to a future-proof energy utilization and a sustainable mobility,” said the Minister about the community project. The state was therefore supporting this project with the sum of 800,000 euros from the program “Zukunftsoffensive Baden-Württemberg” (Baden-Württemberg’s Campaign for the Future), Gönner continued.

As a leading gas supplier and the world’s largest manufacturer of hydrogen facilities, Linde has a wealth of expertise throughout the hydrogen value creation chain – from hydrogen production to filling technology. This company, the world’s pre-eminent outfitter of hydrogen filling stations, distributes filling technology in 15 countries. The new hydrogen station at Stuttgart Airport incorporates ion-compressor technology developed by Linde. With this new compression process, cars and electric buses powered by fuel cells can be refueled within a matter of minutes – just like vehicles powered by conventional internal combustion engines – with hydrogen at a pressure of either 350 or 700 bar. The gaseous hydrogen is also supplied by Linde AG. Operation with hydrogen produces only electrical energy along with water vapor. No hydrocarbons or sulfur oxides are generated – and not even carbon dioxide (CO2), which arises during combustion of fossil fuels.

Hydrogen as a fuel for automotive drive technologies is free of emissions detrimental to the climate and to the environment in both its production from regenerative energy media and in its transformation into electricity.

 “As the pioneer of hydrogen technology we have a particular responsibility to press ahead toward hydrogen-based sustainable mobility,” said Dr. Aldo Belloni, member of the Board of Management of Linde AG. “Establishing the infrastructure for this future-oriented energy medium calls for a concerted effort among the partners involved. We are delighted to have realized a filling station concept of the latest generation together with OMV. With our newly developed 700-bar technology, vehicles can be refueled rapidly, safely, and in a user-friendly manner.”

“Our fuel cell vehicles have already demonstrated their suitability for everyday operation. To turn emission-free driving into reality, we now need a comprehensive network of hydrogen filling stations,” said Dr. Thomas Weber, member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG with responsibility for Group research and Mercedes-Benz Cars development. “We therefore wholeheartedly welcome and support the initiative of OMV.”

Daimler already presented the first fuel cell vehicle in 1994; the Group has since invested more than a billion euros in fuel cell development. With more than 100 test vehicles and around 4.4 million kilometers covered, the Stuttgart carmaker has one of the largest fuel cell fleets in the world. The start of small-series production of the B-Class F-CELL, planned for 2009, is now continuing the success story of this drive concept.

OMV operates around 400 filling stations in Germany, with a clear focus on the south of the country with the two states of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, along with further filling stations in the states of Thuringia and Saxony. The hydrogen filling station project at Stuttgart Airport is the first of its kind in Germany for OMV.

“OMV is already intensively dealing today with the mobility of tomorrow. In our function as energy providers we have a responsibility with regard to the fuels of the future. Hydrogen, currently in the development and testing phase, is one of the possible alternatives for the mobility of the future,” said Dr. Gerhard Roiss, Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board of OMV Aktiengesellschaft. “We are therefore very happy to be able to support Daimler’s research and development activities with our new hydrogen filling station, together with the State of Baden-Württemberg.”

The project is being supported by the OMV Future Energy Fund, established in June 2006 as an independent organization for the financial support of projects for renewable energy forms, with a contribution of more than 100 million euros. With HyCentA (Hydrogen Center Austria), a further project of OMV with headquarters on the campus of the Technical University of Graz, the energy supplier has long since been gathering invaluable experience in the future-oriented field of research and development with hydrogen technology.