Hydrogen cars were once hailed as the future of green transport. Today, closed stations and high costs reveal why this vision is quietly fading in Germany.

Anyone who drives a hydrogen automobile today faces a difficult situation. “In Hamburg, there are days when not a single petrol station is open,” explains Thomas Klassen. Klassen is especially frustrated by this situation. He directs the Institute for Hydrogen Technology at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon. The H2 molecule is his profession—or, more accurately, his life.

Klassen chose four years ago to employ hydrogen in his personal life as well. Since then, he has travelled over 62,000 km in his Hyundai Nexo. However, today’s driving experience is nothing like it once was.

“I used to make full use of the range. That’s no longer possible because I don’t know whether the next gas station is working or not,” says Klassen. Once the range reaches 150 kilometers, he begins searching for the next pump. A trip to Rügen becomes a nail-biting experience: The last gas station on the route is in Rostock, 140 kilometers away.

Hydrogen filling stations are currently being closed across Germany. Between January and the end of July this year, 22 will be closed. Of the almost 100 that once existed, only 69 are still in operation, and another could be closed permanently at any time.

The closure of petrol stations is symbolic. It symbolises the quiet dying of a once-great hope. The hydrogen automobile represented technical advancement for many Germans. However, it no longer has a future. Why hasn’t this hope been realised? Was it fake from the beginning? A quest for clues.

The hydrogen automobile represented a future promise, demonstrating that even in a decarbonised society, many things may remain unchanged. It was hailed as the ideal climate-friendly compromise, even serving as an alternative to the battery-powered vehicle. No wonder: refuelling takes only a few minutes, and the range is adequate for large distances, providing apparent benefits over battery-powered vehicles.

Last but not least, the idea also appealed to engineers: turning an invisible gas into clean electricity – how fitting in a country proud of its engineering prowess. In a 2022 survey, 32 percent of respondents said they preferred fuel cells to batteries. The latter accounted for just 15 percent.

It was primarily industry that massively promoted the topic in the early 2010s. In 2011, then-Mercedes CEO Dieter Zetsche even ushered in the “century of hydrogen.”

Almost €200 million in funding has since flowed into the construction of filling stations and fleets. “But the race is over,” says a former industry manager today. The dream of a mass-market hydrogen car is over.

The Decline in Numbers

According to the Federal Motor Transport Authority, just 1,802 hydrogen-powered cars are registered in Germany. Over the past two years, this number has been steadily declining, and worldwide. In 2024, sales plummeted by 22 percent compared to the previous year, reports the market research firm SNE.

At the end of April, the Austrian energy group OMV, the only provider of hydrogen filling stations in the country, announced that it would be taking all of its facilities offline. Despite early investments, the company explained its decision by citing demand as having fallen short of expectations. Last year, the only provider in Denmark had already withdrawn from the market. And in Great Britain, the oil company Shell has already closed all of its hydrogen filling stations in 2022.

“The technology is mature, hydrogen cars work. But the infrastructure is the problem. More and more filling stations are closing or are not being properly maintained. And it’s too expensive,” says Klassen. While battery-powered cars are already available for 25,000 to 30,000 euros, a hydrogen car costs 60,000 to 70,000 euros and more.

Of the nearly 49 million cars in Germany today, 3.5 percent are battery-powered. Hydrogen cars, in contrast, account for just 0.003 percent.

The fuel cell as a high-tech symbol

But why did one drive system win and the other lose, despite the similarities? Both are electric cars, both run on electricity. But while green electricity is used directly in the battery-powered version, which most people refer to as an “electric car,” the hydrogen car uses a fuel cell.

For this purpose, hydrogen is stored in a pressurized tank and then converted into electrical energy in a fuel cell, which then powers the electric motor. A small battery also serves as an intermediate storage device to absorb peak loads and recover braking energy (regeneration). If the hydrogen is produced from renewable electricity, the fuel cell is also climate-neutral – albeit very inefficient with an efficiency of around 40 percent. By comparison, battery-powered cars achieve just under 80 percent, while combustion engines only 24 percent.

While charging the battery of an electric car, you can read Tolstoy’s “War and Peace.” Filling up a hydrogen car, on the other hand, takes barely enough time for a quick tweet. – Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche at the 2011 International Motor Show

Car manufacturers and fossil fuel giants nevertheless wanted to make the dream of the hydrogen car a reality. Some because the drive system promised sustainability without range anxiety. Others because green hydrogen from renewable energies will remain a distant dream for many years to come. In the meantime, hydrogen from natural gas would have been a perfect continuation of a business model that had been established for decades.

Together with industrial gas manufacturer Linde, Daimler CEO Zetsche wanted to build a hydrogen charging network. In 2015, they founded the industrial consortium “H2 Mobility” together with Air Liquide, OMV, Shell, and Total – now the largest single operator of hydrogen filling stations in the world.

Together with industrial gas manufacturer Linde, Daimler CEO Zetsche wanted to establish a hydrogen charging network. In 2015, they founded the industrial consortium “H2 Mobility” together with Air Liquide, OMV, Shell, and Total – now the largest single operator of hydrogen filling stations in the world.

The B-Class Fuel Cell was supposed to go into series production by 2014. But that never happened. In 2019, Mercedes withdrew from the fuel cell business after 30 years of development in the passenger car sector. The once-promised “century” for hydrogen turned out to be quite short.

Mercedes, Volkswagen, Ford, and BMW – all major automakers announced hydrogen vehicles in the euphoria. To date, not a single one has reached the market. Only BMW is still pursuing the idea. Series production is scheduled to begin in 2028 in collaboration with Toyota. The Japanese manufacturer, along with Hyundai, is the only provider of hydrogen vehicles on the German market.

“Initially, the hydrogen car had a clear advantage in terms of range and charging speed, but battery-electric cars have evolved, caught up, are cheaper, and, above all, have a better climate footprint,” says Maximilian Fichtner, Director of the Helmholtz Institute for Electrochemical Storage. The chemist himself spent twelve years working on hydrogen-powered fuel cell systems.

Most hydrogen cars still run on grey hydrogen from natural gas. Green hydrogen from renewable energies is expected to play a major role in the future, but its expansion is progressing slowly.

One important reason why car manufacturers have abandoned hydrogen propulsion is often forgotten: “No manufacturer would voluntarily ruin its CO₂ fleet limits by using cars that run on gray hydrogen,” says Fichtner. Fleet limits in the automotive industry determine how much CO₂ a manufacturer’s vehicle fleet is allowed to emit on average per kilometre. Here, battery-powered cars perform significantly better than fuel cells due to the high proportion of green electricity.

The unsustainable costs

Customers do not exist when there are no automobiles. To be viable, a hydrogen filling station would need to serve 200 to 300 automobiles each day. at actuality, personnel report two to three clients every day, with a maximum of 10 at major stations. Sometimes no automobiles pass by at all. Filling stations are a loss-making enterprise. “Nobody makes money from this,” claim industry insiders. Accordingly, problems occur.

At the end of May, twelve filling stations were temporarily out of service for a variety of reasons, including technical malfunctions, maintenance, and hydrogen supply issues. One month later, eleven more were added. The systems are old and will not be changed. Modernisation is not worthwhile.

The Münster-based company Westfalen has long since closed the door on this issue. “We still operate a hydrogen filling station for cars and trucks in Münster. We will continue to do so because, as a family business, we want to be there for our customers. But we don’t really see any future business for us in the car sector,” CEO Thomas Perkmann told Handelsblatt.

It wasn’t just political support for electric cars that sealed the fate of the fuel cell. Simple economic reasons also prevented a breakthrough.

Battery-powered vehicles are cheaper and easier to manufacture, better suited to companies’ emission limits, and charging stations are much easier to connect to the power grid than hydrogen-powered vehicles. Transporting the molecule is a complex process.

Hydrogen is compressed using a great deal of energy and transported in tank trucks. On-site, it must then be stored under high pressure or refrigerated in liquid form. Cars refuel with the lightest of all gases at minus 40 degrees Celsius and 700 bar pressure.

Production and storage are therefore complex and expensive. Prices at the pump are correspondingly high. While a kilogram of hydrogen cost just under ten euros ten years ago, today it is between 15 and 19 euros. One kilogram can travel between 80 and 100 kilometers – depending on driving style. While the costs are only slightly higher than for a diesel car of comparable size, they are likely to be about twice as high as for a comparable electric car.

“Gray hydrogen is centrally organized, with only a few sources in Germany. Therefore, the logistics routes to the individual hydrogen filling stations are relatively long,” says Falk Schulte-Wintrop, Head of Strategy at H2 Mobility. The former consortium for car filling stations is now focusing on expanding the infrastructure for hydrogen trucks and buses. “Today, very large filling stations are being built where a structural case can be mapped out. But the lever here is not the cars,” says Schulte-Wintrop.

The Quiet Farewell

For committed individuals like Alexander Lechleuthner, the cost argument is a devastating verdict. The medical director of the emergency services in Cologne made a conscious decision to buy a hydrogen car just two years ago. “I don’t know how long the technology will be around, but if no one buys it, it won’t survive. And I didn’t want that,” says the doctor of medicine.The fact that the nearest gas station is in Leverkusen, half an hour away from his home in Bergisch Gladbach, doesn’t bother him. He’s already driven almost 20,000 kilometers. “We thrive on innovation and technological openness, not just in the emergency services,” says Lechleuthner. But he also sees that the battery has won the race. His leasing contract expires at the end of the year. Lechleuthner isn’t sure yet whether he’ll hand in the car or sell it.

The question of a revival

A few months ago, a case highlighted how little importance politicians still attach to hydrogen cars. The National Organization for Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology (NOW), a federal organization dedicated to the development and support of funding projects related to climate-neutral mobility, was abruptly redesignated.

So far, he hasn’t had any problems with his Toyota Mirai. One tank of fuel lasts for just under 600 kilometers. Enough to visit his family in Munich, says the Bavarian native. What fascinates him is the technology behind it. “Like with a combustion engine, something is being produced in the car; it’s a high-tech innovation that we’re giving away,” says Lechleuthner.

Whereas previously the focus was primarily on the construction of hydrogen filling stations, the company will now concentrate on electromobility and charging infrastructure, according to a statement. Long-time CEO Kurt-Christoph von Knobelsdorff was forced to step down. The reason for the reorientation, it was said, was the necessary savings in the federal budget. “Closing down NOW was the easiest thing to do,” says an industry executive. They are in the valley of death.

Thomas Klassen has likewise bid farewell to his major breakthrough. “Perhaps that will change again when trucks arrive; cars may become a bycatch.” “But it will always be a niche.”

Klassen will continue to use fuel cells in the meantime. Only when he visits his family in the Sauerland area do “things begin to get difficult.” His connection with his automobile is deteriorating.

The article was originally published in German on Handelsblatt by Kathrin Witsch. Follow Europeans24 for more updates!

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