Initial infrastructure for hydrogen mobility based on predictable demand

Project goals

In this project vehicle fleets (bus, taxi, car sharing) are considered to be in demand of hydrogen as fuel. For these types of vehicles hydrogen filling stations with on-site electrolysis are to be designed and statements made about the efficiency of the operation of the filling station. In a second step it will be investigated where in the Eastern German federal states H₂ fleets and the necessary H₂ filling stations should be used so that the resulting H₂ filling station network also benefits private car drivers. In this way, the challenges of the difficult initial phase of fuel cell electromobility are to be addressed.

Application

Fuel cell electromobility has achieved little market penetration so far. One reason for this is the chicken and egg problem: on the one hand, the expansion of petrol stations is delayed, if there are few potential customers. On the other hand, the purchase of FC vehicles increases very slowly if there aren't enough filling stations. A possible solution is to base the expansion of the filling station network on predictable customers. Since these only require a locally limited infrastructure and guarantee the filling station utilization, the chicken and egg problem does not exist here. This results in positive benefits for private cars.

The final project report is available in the HYPOS member area.