In St. Gallen, the world’s first mobile fast charging station for electric vehicles, powered by CO2-free hydrogen, was launched.
This experimental project benefited from ABB Switzerland’s charging and converter technologies.
One kilogram of hydrogen contains the same amount of energy as 2.8 kilos of gasoline. In a fuel cell, this can be transformed into electrical energy with minimal pollutants. The output is a CO 2 -neutral energy cycle if the hydrogen is produced using renewable energy sources.
The hydrogen-powered fast charger «kvyreen» takes advantage of the element’s high energy density to provide a high charging capacity that is independent of the power grid. At the AVIA Osterwalder AG filling station on Oberstrasse 141 in St. Gallen, where the first hydrogen filling station in Eastern Switzerland has been available since summer 2020, a prototype is presently in operation.
H2 Energy, a Swiss firm, is the driving force behind “kvyreen.” This is a closed, transportable cube with fully integrated technologies. Green hydrogen is turned into electrical energy via a fuel cell, which is then made available for rapid charging of electric vehicles via a converter and a charging station, both of which are provided by project partner ABB Switzerland. The system’s charging capacity in the pilot operation is 60 kilowatts. The system will be operated with a charging capacity of up to 150 kilowatts per vehicle in the later commercial application.
«Kvyreen» is a location-independent solution that may be utilized when building a network-operated rapid charging infrastructure is not or is not yet viable, whether for logistical or financial reasons. This means that demand-based charging capacity, supplied by hydrogen tankers, can always be provided without putting a strain on the local power grid. In order to attain climate neutrality, «Kvyreen» is suited for a wide range of additional applications. For example, as a diesel generator replacement, in construction technology, or in the event industry.
Renewable energy sources, such as wind, water, or solar power plants, produce “green” hydrogen. Ideally, whenever there is excess energy in the electrical system that isn’t being used. Hydrogen is produced for the trial project using Swiss hydropower.
“By participating in this innovative Swiss project, ABB can underpin its global technology and market leadership in the field of electromobility,” says Adrian Wachholz, Head of E-Mobility, Market Switzerland. «This project is an excellent example that a mixture of energy sources and technologies will represent the optimum for the mobility of the future. Here we are building an important bridge between battery-electric mobility and a green hydrogen ecosystem. “
“I am very pleased that we can implement this forward-looking world premiere with ABB Switzerland and the other partners as an innovative project” Made in Switzerland “, said Thomas Walter, project manager and member of the management board of H2, on the occasion of the inauguration in St. Gallen on September 16.
