The revolution begins in Val Badia, where the first hydrogen-powered snow groomer has just entered service. Anton Seeber, president of Prinoth, tells us about it in an interview.
While the fate of the ski season and resorts remains to be seen, in this 2020 so severely marked by the coronavirus pandemic, technological innovation aimed at making mobility sustainable in every sense is now reaching the ski slopes too, with a new snow groomer powered by hydrogen.
The revolution begins on the slopes of South Tyrol: the project was developed by Prinoth, a company based in Vipiteno that specialises in the production of snow groomers and is part of the Hti Group, which also includes Leitner. The work of the South Tyrolean company's engineers has given rise to the Leitwolf h2Motion, the world's first snow groomer with a 100 per cent eco-friendly hydrogen-powered engine, alongside the fully electric Husky eMotion — two solutions that look towards climate neutrality for ski resorts.
The company has already begun testing, and between 20 and 21 December the Leitwolf entered service in Alta Badia, alongside the Gran Risa slope where two Alpine Ski World Cup races were held. We spoke with Anton Seeber, chairman of the board of the Hti Group, about a project that promises to revolutionise the way ski slopes are navigated and maintained.
When was the project conceived and how was it developed?
We conceived the Leitwolf h2Motion just over ten months ago. A wonderful team of technicians and engineers developed and built the hydrogen snow groomer prototype that will be on the slopes in three or four years. This development has deep and solid foundations: as far back as 2003 to 2006, using a small wind turbine, we began experimenting with hydrogen production through electrolysis — that is, splitting water into its two components. Our aim is to produce hydrogen using renewable energy and hydropower. After all, many ski resorts have small hydroelectric plants: they could use the energy produced at night to generate hydrogen.
What is the future vision and application of this new hydrogen-powered vehicle?
The hydrogen version has nothing to envy in the diesel version. Quite the opposite: with an engine output of 544 horsepower (400 kW), the new prototype surpasses the classic model and is capable of even greater acceleration. The range reaches up to four hours, and we have managed to ensure that refuelling the vehicle takes just twenty minutes, with hydrogen at a pressure of 700 bar.
How has the hydrogen snow groomer been received by ski resorts?
We believe it could also be a matter of image for the ski resorts that use our eco-friendly groomers: environmental awareness is, fortunately, growing ever stronger, and sustainability is beginning to become a deciding factor in consumer choices. The main obstacle to the widespread adoption of vehicles of this kind is infrastructure: in Italy, despite the promises, hydrogen's rise is itself an uphill climb for precisely this reason. There will presumably be government subsidies, as will be the case for cars, and this pandemic should have made it clear once and for all that the concept of cost cannot be separated from environmental and health costs. We are investing for the long term, which is precisely what sustainability means.