The future of hydrogen filling stations is closely linked to the development of hydrogen production and the infrastructure for transporting it to the point of refuelling. The next necessary steps will be to switch to green energy sources for hydrogen production and to increase the efficiency of fuel cells. The increasing number of hydrogen powered vehicles will put pressure on the growing number of refuelling stations and their increased availability.

To give a few examples, the Japanese carmaker Toyota launched its first hydrogen car in the form of the Mirai, and in early December introduced the experimental GR Yaris with a hydrogen internal combustion engine. Both cars ingeniously demonstrate two different approaches to the use of hydrogen in transport: while the Mirai uses chemical reactions in fuel cells to generate electricity for electric propulsion, the GR Yaris burns hydrogen in a modified conventional engine. Both have undeniable environmental advantages: using hydrogen in a fuel cell produces only non-mineralised water as waste, and even burning it in a conventional engine results in only relatively small amounts of harmful NOₓ. "The hydrogen fuel cell is significantly easier to recycle, with the disadvantage of using very rare metals such as platinum or iridium".

When the European Commission put forward its hydrogen strategy in 2020, it set the goal of creating a full hydrogen ecosystem in the EU to help decarbonise all sectors of concern. Two years on, concrete legislation is being born at EU level to help translate the targets into practice. Hydrogen is covered, for example, by the well-known Fit for 55 climate legislation package, which defines the production of renewable hydrogen and includes measures to encourage its consumption. These include the construction of refuelling stations and related infrastructure. In the new REPowerEU energy plan, which is designed to help the EU break its energy dependence on Russia and ensure affordable and clean energy for the EU-27, the Commission has proposed an increase in hydrogen targets. Europe is not only thinking of hydrogen as another clean energy source, or energy storage, but also as an alternative fuel for vehicles. Although hydrogen transport projects are in their infancy, they have potential.

There are already hydrogen-powered cars, trucks, buses, trains and even ships. But they are far from widespread. And some of them may not even live to see it. Transport experts say hydrogen will catch on for freight rather than passenger transport. In the case of cars, batteries lead the way. If we are talking about passenger transport, battery power has almost a decade's head start, which also shows that the introduction of hydrogen in transport in general, and passenger transport in particular, seems to be a complementary solution rather than the main one.  In freight transport, however, hydrogen has a number of advantages over batteries. One of the advantages is the lower weight of the vehicles, as well as the fast refuelling in 20 minutes and the reliable and higher range, which should not decrease significantly even in cold conditions. For this reason too, hydrogen is seen as a solution, especially for long-distance freight transport and where the vehicle needs to be continuously loaded. It is likely that batteries and hydrogen will be replenished and coexist.  Hydrogen also makes sense from the point of view of ČESMAD BOHEMIA (the association of hauliers). "The prototypes (of hydrogen vehicles) tested seem to be suitable for long-distance transport, their range is comparable to diesel vehicles and better than battery electric vehicles."

But the expansion of hydrogen propulsion is still the music of the future, and several question marks remain to be resolved. One of them, for example, is where to install the bulky hydrogen tanks that trucks need.  Whether Europe can manage to produce enough pure hydrogen also remains a key question mark. Hydrogen production from fossil fuels would certainly not lead to carbon neutrality. If we are talking about so-called green hydrogen, the main stumbling block is the scale of production needed.  To develop hydrogen-powered transport, it is of course also necessary to build enough filling stations. The construction of refuelling stations is not only financially but also technically demanding. For example, the Czech filling station, which has been in operation since June 2022 in Ostrava, cost about CZK 15 million. The Czech Republic is planning to build about 80 of them domestically by 2030. Another obstacle that will hinder the rapid development of hydrogen vehicles is the assumption of a very high price of hydrogen vehicles. If the EU wants to achieve its goals of making transport emission-free, hydrogen refuelling stations should be available at least every 150 kilometres along the trans-European car transport network by 2030. This would create a sufficiently dense network of hydrogen refuelling stations to ensure adequate EU cross-border connectivity and support the 60,000 hydrogen trucks expected to be on EU roads in 2030. The 60,000 hydrogen trucks reflect the results of a 2020 study commissioned by the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU), which concluded that fuel cells "are a very promising solution for emission-free propulsion for heavy goods transport. The study concluded that hydrogen fuel cell trucks could become cost competitive by 2027 if the price of hydrogen falls to €6/kg. The study also highlighted the high operational flexibility and relatively short refuelling times of hydrogen trucks. However, a legislative framework will be essential for hydrogen trucks to take hold in the market. "Without the EU's flagship climate package Fit for 55, only 3 000 hydrogen trucks would be on Europe's roads by 2030," a European Commission official told EURACTIV. However, with current proposals to meet the EU's climate ambitions, this number is set to rise to 60 000. The study outlines a scenario in which 17 % of new trucks sold in 2030 would run on hydrogen. However, two key criteria must be met – hydrogen should be sold at a price below €6/kg and the costs associated with hydrogen technology should fall. If this were to happen, it would mean that around 60,000 hydrogen trucks would be running on European roads by 2030. In 2030, green hydrogen could cost as little as €1.8/kg. The cost of the technology could be put on a promising downward trajectory by joint EU and industry research funding.

For hydrogen filling stations, the future focuses mainly on building a sufficiently dense network of filling stations, solving the hydrogen supply problem and reducing filling times. One option under consideration is to increase the filling pressure, but this will lead to even greater demands on safety, quality of materials and design of both filling stations and vehicles. As the number of filling stations increases, the price of filling stations will decrease, making it possible to increase their number even further.

In order to make the construction and operation of hydrogen refuelling stations more efficient and cost-effective, the Department of Energy Technology at the University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE) and the Centre for Fuel Cell Technology (ZBT) are currently developing simulation models of refuelling station components in order to analyse and evaluate designs. Researchers from UDE and ZBT are looking at the basic components of a hydrogen filling station. On the ZBT test bed, they examine the fuel pump, tank size and pressure, feed the results into simulations and calculate the relationships between the components to make refuelling efficient. Critical to the design of a hydrogen filling station is its intended use. Filling stations in small towns or businesses and stations located along highways will be completely different.

Another issue that will need to be addressed is the losses in the hydrogen production and distribution chain. The more efficient the process, the lower the final price of hydrogen. Hydrogen is also significantly more expensive than fossil fuels. Project leader Dr. Jürgen Roes of the Department of Energy Engineering says: "Nevertheless, hydrogen from solar and wind energy is an important energy storage device of the future because it does not pollute the environment." It therefore makes sense to use the resource as efficiently as possible and to start thinking about how to use it as economically as possible. [28]