Berlin Brandenburg Airport receives the first Opel HydroGen4 vehicles
By Andrew, 27 Dec, 2011. 0 Comments
Opel HydroGen4
Opel’s market trial on fuel cell vehicles started in 2008 but it has since expanded. Volker Hoff, the Opel Vice President of Government Relations, said that a HydroGen4 vehicle has been brought to the Berlin Airports. Dr Manfred A. Körtgen, the general manager for BBI, which runs Berlin’s airports, said that its environmental goals call for energy efficiency and sustainability. He said that the company intends to transform the new Berlin Brandenburg Airport to become the most modern airport in Europe with a leadership role in environmental and resources protection.
However, this is actually the same principle with the use of alternative propulsion in the airport vehicle fleet. He said that the Opel deal and the long term trial of the hydrogen vehicle HydroGen4 enable them to test this form of propulsion for daily suitability at the airport. On June 3, 2012, the new Berlin Brandenburg Airport will become fully operational. It will replace the ageing airports of Tegel and Schönefeld. Other companies that have been testing whether hydrogen is a clean form of fuel together with the Opel HydroGen4 for the future include the ADAC, Allianz, Axel Springer AG/Bild, Coca-Cola, Hilton, Linde, Pace, Schindler, Veolia and the NH Hotel Friedrichstrasse.
The Opel HydroGen4 is the newest achievement of Opel and General Motors’ research in the realm of fuel cell propulsion. Its fuel cell stack has 440 series-connected cells that generate the electrical output required for the synchronous electric motor. The 73kW/100hp engine unit enables the vehicle to accelerate from zero to 100 km/h in 12 seconds with a top speed of 160 km/h. Three high pressure tanks built from carbon-fiber composite material can hold as much as 4.2 kg of hydrogen. This results to an operating range of as far as 320 kilometers.
“The vehicle which has an emission free hydrogen propulsion is supposed to give valuable further insights into the everyday suitability of this futuristic technology as part of the Clean Energy Partnership,” says Hoff. “BER is an ideal partner as it possesses the world’s first CO2 neutral gas station. The Total gas station provides green hydrogen produced from wind energy by Enertrag. Both firms, Total and Enertrag, are also partners of our market trial. Now that we have signed up BER as a new partner, we have closed the circle of sustainable mobility.”
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