Massive expansion of Shell hydrogen fuelling pumps network in Germany

Shell opened its first hydrogen fuelling station in Germany in 2011

By 2023, over 400 Shell hydrogen fuelling points will be available across Germany. Teslarati.com photo.

Royal Dutch Shell announced plans to add hundreds of hydrogen fuelling pumps at German retail sites, building the company’s nationwide network to 400 fuelling points in eight years.

Working with its H2 Mobility Germany partners and the country’s federal transportation minister, Shell says the proposed network should be complete by 2023. The company says it is hoping the joint venture project will accelerate the growth of the low-carbon transport fuel.

“Hydrogen-fuelled electric vehicles could play a key part in a low-carbon, low-emission, future,” said Oliver Bishop, General Manager of Hydrogen at Shell. “It will take technical innovation and bold policies to transform the global energy system into a progressively cleaner, less carbon-intensive one.”

Bishop says the next step is for consumers to consider buying hydrogen vehicles as they become available.

Shell is currently operating three hydrogen stations in Germany, including one in Berlin and two in Hamburg. The first four new fuelling points will be installed at existing retail sites in Frankfurt, Wuppertal, Geisingen and Wendingen.

The pumps at these sites will refuel hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV) in a few minutes.

The cost of charging a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle is comparable to filling a car with gasoline or diesel and they can travel similar distances to vehicles with conventional combustion engines.

In the US, Shell has another two demonstration hydrogen filling stations in Los Angeles that allow the company to evaluate a range of technologies, drive down costs and better understand consumer behaviour.

The company is assessing the potential for more stations in the USA, UK, Switzerland, Austria, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.