Europe got 36 new hydrogen filling stations in 2019

Last year, the European network of hydrogen (H2) filling stations grew with 36 to a total of 177. Germany got the lion’s share with 22 new ones. Worldwide, 83 new H2 filling stations were opened: 38 in Asia, 8 in North America, and one in the Arab region.

At the end of 2019, the total number of publicly accessible hydrogen filling stations was 432, with 320 of them for refueling individual hydrogen vehicles. In the past five years, the number of public H2 filling stations quadrupled. And 226 more are planned at designated locations.

Germany leads the way

The figures come from the H2Stations.org, a service from the German consultancy company for sustainable energy and mobility, Ludwig-Bölkow-Systemtechnik GmbH. They are mapping out the progress of H2 filling stations worldwide, both the ones operational and planned.

From the 177 counted in Europe, Germany has 87 of them. France comes in second with 26 operational and 34 new ones planned. But while in the rest of Europe the focus is on individual hydrogen vehicles, in France most of the stations are to fill up buses and delivery vehicles.

The Netherlands to catch up

With 21 new ones planned, the Netherlands is likely to come in third soon. For years, the Dutch had only three filling stations at Rhoon, Delfzijl, and Helmond. Last year a new one opened in Arnhem, and this month another is to open in The Hague.

Switzerland has already four stations operational and is planning another six. In Belgium, there are two H2 filling stations publicly accessible, one in Halle at the Colruyt headquarters, and one in Zaventem, from AirLiquide. Colruyt, the owner of the DATS 24 gas stations, is a pioneer in Belgium.

Five planned in Belgium

It plans other hydrogen stations in Wilrijk (near Antwerp), for which it already got the permit, in Haasrode (near Louvain), and the Ghent region. Two more are to be planned in Wallonia, in Herve, and another location yet to be determined.

And a third Walloon one is on its way too at the Liège Airport, an important goods hub for air transport and in distance some 25 km from Herve. Liège Airport officials confirmed last October that the airport has the ambition to run all its vehicles on hydrogen in five years. It will also build a publicly accessible hydrogen station together with John Cockerill. The date set is somewhere in 2021.

Japan and South Korea

In the rest of the world, it is Asia that’s leading on the hydrogen path with 178 stations, and Japan claiming the lion’s share with 114 of them, followed by South Korea with 33. The latter is planning 40 more of them.

Not surprisingly these are the home countries of hydrogen carmakers Toyota, Honda, and Hyundai. In China, the – as far as known – 27 H2 filling stations are mostly used for buses and trucks.

Those – mostly Japanese – cars are also the main reason why the land of Donald Trump has yet 74 hydrogen stations with the bulk of them in California (48). Some 21 new ones are being installed this year.