Hamburg Is Ready to Fill Up With Hydrogen. Customers Aren’t So Sure.
A Swedish energy company, Vattenfall, built the station at a cost of 6 million euros in 2012, anticipating growing numbers of hydrogen-powered cars,
and especially buses, that would guzzle large volumes of the fuel.
If the orders are fulfilled, Mr. Schrank estimated the project would break even, based on the investments by Alstom
and the German government, which has put in €8 million ($8.9 million).
The filling station in Hamburg, part of several bets on hydrogen in this German
port city, reflects the great appeal, and challenge, of this clean fuel.
“Our aircraft do go to some very remote places,” said Barnaby Law, the company’s
project director for hydrogen and fuel cells, who is based in Hamburg.
“We do see some expectations that were not met,” said Klaus Bonhoff, head of the National Organization Hydrogen
and Fuel Cell Technology, which manages the government’s programs involving the fuel.
The German government, along with private companies like Royal Dutch Shell, Daimler
and the industrial gas giant Air Liquide, has invested about €1.4 billion over the past decade to nurture the development of hydrogen vehicles.
