3.12.2003
Hydrogen station construction underway in Germany

Berlin will have the first integrated public hydrogen vehicle fueling station in Germany. Service station operator Aral, GM/Opel, BMW, the public transport operator Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG), DaimlerChrysler, Ford, Linde, and Vattenfall Europe will supply infrastructure, technology and vehicles.

Construction has begun in Berlin of the first integrated public hydrogen vehicle fueling station in Germany. According to Just-auto.com, the project is scheduled for completion late next year. The Clean Energy Partnership (CEP), a consortium made up of nine partners and the federal government, is backing the project.

Service station operator Aral, GM/Opel, BMW, the public transport operator Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG), DaimlerChrysler, Ford, Linde, and Vattenfall Europe will supply infrastructure, technology and vehicles.

From the outside, the new hydrogen station will look like a modern service station but will supply a fleet of test vehicles with hydrogen right alongside the everyday selling of conventional fuels.

The use of fuels from biological sources as an interim solution on the way to pure hydrogen technology will also be tested. The CEP's carmakers will operate a test fleet initially consisting of 16 hydrogen-fuelled passenger cars: 10 DaimlerChrysler F-Cell vehicles, two BMW 7 series, three Ford Focus FCEV hybrids and an Opel HydroGen3. The cars will be operated under normal everyday conditions and the fleet will be expanded during the course of the project.