Part of the German Recovery and Resilience Plan, the funding is aimed at creating a facility to support the development, testing, and market readiness of hydrogen technologies.

Located in Pfeffenhausen and named the Wasserstoff Technologie-Anwender-Zentrum (WTAZ), the site will focus on heavy-duty transport and urban air mobility applications.

It will feature testing infrastructures including laboratories, test benches – for storage tanks, combustion engines, and completed vehicles – and a hydrogen liquefier.

With existing sites in Chemnitz, the northern German cluster of Bremen/Bremerhaven, Hamburg, and Stade, this would be the fifth facility of its kind in the country.

Situated next to an electrolyser at the HyBayern project, and close to universities of Ingolstadt, Landshut, and Regensburg, it will be within reach of a hydrogen source and additional research capabilities.

BMV said it will utilise green hydrogen sourced from the region.

The ministry said that the project will be implemented by Project Management Jülich, but did not provide a timeline for its construction.

Federal Transport Minister Patrick Schnieder slated WTAZ as a catalyst for moving hydrogen technologies from research into widespread application.

“[It] will decisively advance the powertrain transition in transport and at the same time secure sustainable value creation in Germany”, Scheider asserted.

The BMV continues to spearhead momentum for hydrogen mobility in Europe.

It recently launched a €220m ($260m) funding call for establishing a trial network of up to 40 hydrogen refuelling stations amidst EU mandates for green hydrogen in the mobility sector, requiring its use for 1.2% of transport energy by 2030.