August 2007

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BRUSSELS/MUNICH – More hydrogen fueling stations in Europe:

A new hydrogen fuel dispenser is up and running in Brussels, installed in June by France’s Total chain of gasoline stations in cooperation with German industrial gas supplier Linde and carmaker BMW. So far it’s only a temporary setup dispensing liquid hydrogen primarily for BMW cars, but a permanent station will be built soon that will offer both liquid and compressed gas hydrogen fuel.

Among the first customers to roll up to the pump were European Commissioners Andris Piebalgs, in charge of the EU’s energy policies, and Guenter Verheugen, commission vice president and commissioner in charge of enterprise, both of whom have been given one of BMW’s new Hydrogen 7 dual-fuel flagship sedans as part of its VIP loaner program (H&FCL Dec. 06, April 07).

And at the end of May, Linde started operating another containerized portable gaseous hydrogen fueling station at Hamburg’s airport to fuel two fuel cell-powered airplane tugs and a small people mover operating on the airport’s apron. The system comes with two dispensers, one rated at 350 bar (5,000 psi) for the tractors built by German forklift manufacturer Still, and the other at 200 bar (3,000 psi) for the people mover. Fueling takes about seven minutes.

Sources/Contacts: www.hyweb.de/News/gazette.html; Linde media, Stefan Metz, +49/89/35757-1322, info@linde.com.