H2 MOBILITY, local bus operator Rheinbahn and Stadtwerke Düsselforf have officially launched a new hydrogen vehicle refuelling station in Düsseldorf.
The new facility is now the largest hydrogen refuelling station in Europe, with the launch event seeing support from a number of government & local representatives including Mona Neubaur, Minister for Economic Affairs of North Rhine-Westphalia, Düsseldorf’s Lord Mayor Dr Stephan Keller, and Dagmar Fehler, Spokesperson and CEO of NOW GmbH.
With a daily capacity of up to five tonnes of hydrogen, the site allows for a combination of any three vehicles to be refuelled simultaneously, including buses, trucks, passenger cars and light commercial vehicles.
The new station represents a key point in Rheinbahn’s local hydrogen refuelling requirements, with the operator currently utilising 20 hydrogen buses as part of its fleet.
Annette Grabbe, Member of the Executive Board of Rheinbahn, stated:Hydrogen is an essential component of our strategy to reduce CO₂ emissions. We are investing strategically in this future technology to transform public transport in Düsseldorf and the surrounding region. The new hydrogen refuelling station represents another milestone in our journey toward zero-emission mobility. Its commissioning ensures that we are now optimally positioned to refuel our hydrogen buses flexibly and efficiently for reliable operations. The vehicles have already proven themselves in daily service—our drivers value their comfort and performance.
Together with our strong partners H2 MOBILITY and Stadtwerke Düsseldorf, we are driving the mobility transition forward and making tangible progress towards our regional climate neutrality goals.
The wider expansion of hydrogen mobility support within North Rhine-Westphalia is actively supported by state energy agency NRW.Energy4Climate, which has had a direct role in the development of regional hydrogen ecosystems. The new facility forms part of Düsseldorf’s urban mobility and climate protection strategy, with the city aiming to become climate-neutral by 2035.
The new station is set to be supplied with renewable hydrogen (RFNBO) from a certified source powered solely by renewable electricity in the run up to the full operation of the Stadtwerke Düsseldorf electrolyser in 2026, which will then begin to provide a steady supply of locally generated hydrogen produced using waste energy.
Mona Neubaur, Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, commented:In areas that are difficult to electrify—especially where battery-electric drives reach their limits—hydrogen helps reduce emissions. Hydrogen-powered vehicles offer key advantages in public transport and heavy-duty freight thanks to short refuelling times and extended ranges. To ensure fuel cell buses and trucks become a practical reality, we need affordable vehicles, a dense network of hydrogen refuelling stations and sufficient supplies of green hydrogen.
The state is actively advancing this infrastructure, supporting hydrogen refuelling stations for heavy-duty vehicles and launching market ramp-up initiatives such as ‘1,000 Fuel Cell Buses NRW’ and ‘HyTrucks.NRW’—important steps towards climate-neutral mobility.
Funding for the new hydrogen refuelling facility has been provided as part of the Market Activation Measures guideline under Phase 2 of the National Innovation Programme for Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology, which is managed by the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport (BMDV). In total, 3,137,000 EUR was received for the hydrogen refuelling station in Düsseldorf-Höherweg (HyLight3) and 1,212,000 EUR for the electrolyser.
