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The German industrial gas giant, Linde AG, commenced operations of a car pool service “BeeZero” this week using Hyundai zero-emissions fuel cell cars. The vehicles feature impressive driving range of 400km between refuelling and enable zero-emissions mobility thanks to renewable hydrogen fuel.
Dr Christian Bruch, member of the Executive Board of Linde AG, said “We expect to gain valuable information from day-to-day fleet operations, which we will use to further develop our hydrogen technologies and to help expanding the H2 infrastructure. BeeZero synergises two mobility trends that are gaining a lot of ground at the moment – car sharing and zero emissions – and will bring the benefits of fuel-cell technology to a wider group of potential users."
The new car sharing service will be run on a zone-based model. The BeeZero fleet will comprise fifty ‘Hyundai ix35 Fuel Cell’ cars, which will be available in the Munich city centre and also four other convenient locations around the city. It is the world’s first major fleet of fuel-cell cars run by a single operator. As with conventional car sharing services, the cars can be easily booked online or via a smartphone app.
These Hyundai Fuel-cell vehicles can travel over 400 kilometres on a single tank. This means that – unlike battery-powered electric cars – the hydrogen vehicles are also ideal for medium-distance journeys.
One of the key factors for expanding the commercial use of Fuel-cell vehicle in Korea is the set up of a network of hydrogen refuelling stations. Yesterday, there was a meeting between Hyundai and the Linde Group at Hyundai Motor Group’s Eco Technology Centre in Korea to discuss potential alliance especially for the Fuel-cell buses which Hyundai is targeting to showcase in the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics.
Linde has a wealth of expertise and many years of experience in the hydrogen sector. The company has been producing hydrogen on a large scale for its industrial customers for over 100 years. Around 25 years ago, Linde was also one of the first companies to recognise hydrogen’s potential as a clean fuel and to invest in developing the necessary technology to capitalise on this opportunity. Today, the company is the leading global supplier of hydrogen refuelling solutions and boasts a number of unique selling propositions such as its robust, low-maintenance ionic compressor and its cryopump.
President of Linde Korea, Stephen Sheppard said “in South Korea, Linde is currently supplying its unique compression systems to the Korean Gas Safety authority testing station and also in Changwon Province for a public access hydrogen refuelling station”