The city of Braunschweig, the company Veolia and the automotive developer IAV are committed to climate protection: For this purpose, the three cooperation partners each bought a hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicle.

The project is funded by the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI) as part of a joint application from the three Braunschweig partners. First city councilor Christian Geiger, who is responsible for the municipal vehicle fleet, Julien Mounier (managing director of Veolia Energie Germany and chairman of the board of the BS | ENERGY group) and Ralf Wascheck (head of the Fuel Cell & Hydrogen Mobility, IAV department) presented the vehicles on Wednesday 22 April, on the square of German unity.

The municipal vehicle is to be used by the administrative staff for business trips within the city area.

Councilor Geiger said,“In connection with climate protection, the city council of Braunschweig, Veolia and IAV are taking a future-oriented path with the purchase, because fuel cell vehicles drive completely emission-free, only water vapor is generated when driving. With our electromobility concept, which increases the use of electric vehicles and public transport -Using usage in the service of the city administration, we are setting up business mobility for the future. It also fits that we are now also testing hydrogen-based fuel cell technology as another form of electromobility together with our partners. ”

“For us, the use of hydrogen is a topic of the future that does not end in the automotive sector, but continues in the use of excess renewable energy and in power plants,” says Julien Mounier. “Hydrogen could be an important building block for a CO2-neutral Braunschweig.”

Ralf Wascheck, IAV Head of Fuel Cell & Hydrogen Mobility said, “IAV has been involved in the development of fuel cell vehicles and hydrogen mobility for 20 years. In cooperation with our partners from science and industry, we are working together on the further development of this technology. Fuel cell vehicles enable especially for medium and large vehicles to have a long-range with very quick refueling at a petrol station. The three vehicles in combination with the upcoming hydrogen filling station are the starting signal to make fuel cell vehicles in Braunschweig tangible on the road. ”

The three cars are vehicles of the Hyundai brand, model NEXO, which are already being built in series. The unit price is around 70,000 euros. The BMVI supports each car with up to 20,000 euros. The rest is financed by the cooperation partners.

In a fuel cell vehicle, electrical energy is generated from hydrogen and air within a fuel cell, which drives the vehicle via an electric motor. To improve the dynamics and the storage of energy when braking, the Nexo also has a smaller high-voltage battery. The energy required to generate hydrogen is already being partially obtained from renewable sources such as the sun, wind, or water.

As electric vehicles with a purely battery-electric drive, the hydrogen vehicle is just as quiet to drive and just as emission-free. In addition, the fuel cell vehicle can be filled almost as quickly as vehicles with internal combustion engines. To supply fuel cell vehicles, the first hydrogen filling station will open on Hamburger Straße Braunschweig in the middle of the year.