Linde Group’s chief executive, Wolfgang Reitzle is predicting that 6 million hydrogen cars will be on the European roads before the end of next decade. He goes onto say this is a conservative estimate. The Germany-based company is the world’s largest specialty gases supplier with revenues of over $15 billion globally. Reitzle says he hopes that German automakers take hydrogen car technology seriously and don’t miss out on the trend as they’ve done with hybrid vehicles.
The Linde Group has also opened up a hydrogen fueling station just outside of Munich. The Linde Hydrogen Center combines the functions of a technology-testing center with that of a hydrogen fueling station.
There are currently several initiatives in Europe pushing forward the hydrogen transportation and infrastructure industry including CUTE (Clean Urban Transport for Europe), European Lighthouse Projects, Joint Technology Initiative, Norway HyNor Project and the North Atlantic Hydrogen Association to name a few.
Last week while Southern California had a road rally of hydrogen cars, including eight vehicles offered to the public for ride & drives, Europe had their own ride & drive exhibition. At the 3rd HFP Assembly hosted by the European Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology Platform in Brussels, Belgium were a couple of hydrogen cars offered up to the public for test drives.