Germany now has the world’s first hydrogen fuel cell powered ride-sharing service. BeeZero, a subsidiary business within The Linde Group, will offers customers 50 Hyundai ix35 hydrogen fuel cell vehicles for use across Munich, when the program launches in the coming months.
Thomas A. Schmid, Chief Operating Officer at Hyundai Motor Europe said the program aims to provide greener transport and will be a significant step toward that. “BeeZero car-sharing is pioneering sustainable mobility,” he said. “Featuring the Hyundai ix35 Fuel Cell, BeeZero will be the first car sharing service using hydrogen-powered zero-emission cars and will also offer comfortable and reliable transportation for the public.”
Linde AG executive board member Dr. Christian Bruch said BeeZero will provide a crucible for the hydrogen technology. “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 expand the hydrogen infrastructure,” he said. “BeeZero synergises two mobility trends that are gaining a lot of ground at the moment – car sharing and zero emissions – bringing benefits of fuel cell technology to a wider group of potential users.”
BeeZero will not only service the Munich city centre, but with up to 600km of range per tank, the ix35s will reach city-wide, as well as regional destinations in Bavaria or even to Hamburg with one refuelling stop in Wolfsburg (775km). Linde is already appealing for funding to Germany’s Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure to expand the program further.
Currently there are 250 Hyundai ix35s on the road in 13 European countries. And only one in Australia.
Green flags represent hydrogen refueling stations in Europe. Courtesy netinform.net
