Explosion at filling plant causes nationwide hydrogen crisis

Germany is currently experiencing a massive hydrogen crisis. The trigger was an explosion at a filling plant. Now there are major supply problems.

Hydrogen filling station provider H2 Mobility is currently experiencing massive delivery problems.

(Image: r.classen / Shutterstock.com)

Nov 17, 2024 at 8:36 pm CET

3 min. read

By

Niklas Jan Engelking

Owners of hydrogen cars are currently experiencing difficult times: Many hydrogen filling stations in Germany are running in emergency mode. This is due to massive supply problems with hydrogen. At the end of August, there was an explosion at a hydrogen filling plant at Linde in Leuna, Saxony-Anhalt, in which a transport trailer was completely destroyed, but no people were injured. Many hauliers subsequently took the trailers of the affected model out of service as a precaution.

The leading operator of the German hydrogen filling station network, H2 Mobility, was significantly affected by the problems. As the provider announced shortly after the incident, many suppliers are now "subjecting their equipment for filling and supplying hydrogen to further safety checks." This in turn could lead to a temporary shortage of delivery vehicles.

Cars not refueled for weeks

A look at the H2 Mobility filling station map shows that this seems to be continuing. Welt am Sonntag counted 36 out of 82 H2 hydrogen filling stations that are currently only operating in emergency mode and cannot guarantee a reliable supply. Berlin, where there is currently only one fully operational hydrogen filling station, is particularly badly affected. The ride-hailing service Uber has around 180 fuel cell vehicles in use there. It is now facing major challenges. According to the Welt am Sonntag report, there are many owners of Toyota Mirai and Hyundai Nexo vehicles who have not refueled their cars for weeks. But many filling stations in other parts of Germany are now also without hydrogen. H2 Mobility Managing Director Frank Fronzke said back in September: "We have a force majeure situation and are making every effort to find solutions at individual filling stations."

Map of the H2 Mobility hydrogen filling station network (as of November 16): All red dots are filling stations that are currently only running in emergency mode, marked in green are filling stations where supply is guaranteed.

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H2 Mobility had already anticipated in September that the crisis could spread, as many hauliers are now taking their trailers out of service as a precautionary measure until the cause is clarified. According to the World Report, the Federal Office for Materials Research (BAM) stated that the cause of the incident had still not been determined two and a half months later. The Linde Group stated that it had "initiated an investigation into the cause". According to the public prosecutor's office in Halle, the police investigation into the incident is still ongoing.