New hydrogen fuelling station in Innsbruck powers fuel-cell cars cross the Alps

Technology company The Linde Group and OMV today officially opened a new hydrogen fuelling station in Innsbruck. The H2 station with the capacity to fuel six vehicles per hour is located on one of Europe’s key transit routes and will make the journey from Germany to Italy feasible for fuel-cell vehicles.

Austria’s second public hydrogen fuelling station bridges the existing H2 hubs in Munich and Bolzano. It was built as part of the EU-funded HyFIVE (Hydrogen for Innovative Vehicles) project, which aims to equip a number of cities across Europe (London, Copenhagen, Stuttgart, Munich, Innsbruck, Bolzano) for the upcoming commercialisation of fuel-cell vehicles.

The Innsbruck fuelling station is equipped with Linde’s proprietary 700-bar IC90 ionic compressor, which combines the advantages of low energy consumption, low maintenance and a small footprint. In order to meet rising demand for H2 infrastructure, Linde has been running the world’s first small-series production facility for hydrogen fuelling stations at its research and development centre in Vienna since last year.

Also in Vienna, OMV has been operating Austria’s first public hydrogen fuelling station since 2012. Further stations are being planned in partnership with Linde for the greater urban areas of Linz, Munich, Nuremberg and Stuttgart.

Having set up approximately 90 hydrogen fuelling stations in 15 countries and having successfully completed over one million refuelling operations, Linde is leading the way in H2 infrastructure development. With several auto manufacturers currently ramping up to series production, Linde is thus laying important groundwork for the successful roll-out of fuel-cell vehicles.