The first public hydrogen filling station was built in Slovakia by a private company and for its own money.
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Photo: Truth, Martin Domček
They opened the first public hydrogen filling station in Bratislava on February 18. So far, it allows you to fill cars with a pressure of 200 bar.
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Today, representatives of Messer Tatragas opened the first hydrogen filling station for the public in Bratislava’s Vlčom hrdle. It is operated on the leased premises of Slovnaft. Historically, the first car to refuel hydrogen in Slovakia was the Toyota Mirai in private ownership. The advantage of this filling station is that it allows you to refuel hydrogen not only by cars but also by bus.
As part of the agreed partnership, Messer Slovnaft (a joint venture between Messer and Slovnaft) takes hydrogen from Slovnaft and adjusts it with its own technologies to have the parameters needed to fill vehicles. Hydrogen in Slovnaft is still produced from methane, so it is not yet green hydrogen, which many consider an important weapon in the fight against climate change.
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A slight limitation is that hydrogen is currently filled there with a maximum pressure of 200 bar, while the standard is 350 bar and some fillers allow to operate at a pressure of up to 700 bar. The pressure used is sufficient for the Toyota Mirai, for example, to cover another 150 to 200 kilometers after refueling.
The hydrogen filling station will not be self-service yet and those interested in pumping must register once via the Internet. The price of hydrogen at this gas station is currently around 15 euros per kilogram. For larger orders, it will be possible to agree on it individually.
However, it is the first public station that should facilitate the construction of hydrogen infrastructure and simplify the lives of those who already have hydrogen cars and have to go abroad to fill them. As interest in hydrogen grows, Messer Tatragas will expand the number and parameters of filling stations.
Interestingly, Messer Tatragas opened the first hydrogen pump just three days before the Ministry of Economy plans to present the first mobile hydrogen station in Trnava with the participation of its head Richard Sulík (SaS) and the CEO of the Slovak Innovation and Energy Agency Petr Blaškovitš. This should happen on Monday, February 21.
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