50 Hyundai ix35 fuel cell vehicles will be available for the citizens of Munich to get around while emitting only water vapour. Hydrogen mobility is getting closer.
After the fuel cell ebike, here comes BeeZero, the first car-sharing service using hydrogen-powered vehicles. Backed by Germany's Linde, which will also produce the fuel in this case, it will be fully operational from next summer.
All it takes is a smartphone app to book your own hydrogen-powered car, which will have a range of around 400 kilometres on a full tank. The only emissions: water vapour. This is the world's first true hydrogen car rental fleet. "BeeZero combines two mobility trends that are gaining ground right now – car sharing and zero emissions – and will bring the benefits of fuel cell technology to an ever-growing pool of potential users," said Christian Bruch, member of Linde's executive board, in a statement.
It is the evolution of shared mobility: an electric motor powered by hydrogen makes it possible to overcome the problem of limited range. And, perhaps even more interestingly, the fuel will come "exclusively from sustainable production processes, making it completely carbon zero," Linde underlines in the official press release.
"BeeZero will not only be the first car-sharing service with zero-emission hydrogen-powered vehicles, but will also offer comfortable and reliable transport for the everyday needs of the public," said Thomas A. Schmid, Chief Operating Officer of Hyundai Motor Europe.
Admittedly this is not a car-sharing service aimed at private individuals, but since 2014 in Bolzano, Italy's first hydrogen refuelling station has been up and running, where a fleet of fuel cell vehicles has been made available to a number of companies on a long-term rental basis. Here the fuel is produced from renewable sources, in particular hydroelectric power, making the cycle genuinely sustainable.