During a recent visit to Germany, North American automotive and trucking journalists had a chance to attend the opening of Bavaria’s largest hydrogen truck and bus filling station, which could offer a preview of what the first such North American stations will look like.
More than 100 project partners and guests attended the event in Hofolding, Germany. The Linde-built station will fuel up to 10 municipal buses as well as trucks, with a capacity of up to 300 kg of hydrogen per day at 350 bar,
As shown in the above photo, Hydrogen tanks are housed on trailers that can be easily swapped out in minutes. The swap-body concept allows the operators to quickly replenish supply by simply swapping out the trailer that houses the hydrogen tank.
Each trailer can deliver 1,250 kg of hydrogen, enough to fuel at least 25 trucks and buses. The Solaris buses that will be the first to use the station are expected to get about 350 km of range from each fill.
Thomas Zorn, managing director of hydrogen supplier Tyczka Hydrogen, noted the trailers will be swapped out every one to two weeks. It took nearly two years for the entire project to come to fruition, he added. “Today, if you make one mistake, it may delay you for three months,” he said.
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