Bosch has started series production of its fuel cell drive system at its Stuttgart-Feuerbach location. The pilot customer is the US company Nikola with its fuel cell truck. It is scheduled to enter the North American market in the third quarter of 2023.
The Bosch plant in Bamberg supplies the fuel cell stack for the Feuerbach production. System components such as the electric air compressor and the recirculation fan come from the Homburg plant. Parallel to Feuerbach, production for the fuel cell drive system is starting in Chongqing, China - the necessary components for this are coming from the plant in Wuxi. Bosch is also planning to manufacture stacks for mobile applications in the US plant in Anderson, South Carolina.
The further prospects of success for the hydrogen business are linked to the political framework conditions. According to Dr Stefan Hartung, Chairman of the Board of Management of Robert Bosch GmbH, Europe in particular must do much more to counterbalance the strong dynamics in other regions of the world, such as the USA.
Specifically, the Bosch chairman formulated four demands on German and European politicians: "Firstly, we must push H₂ production in the European Union, secondly, establish international supply chains and thirdly, use hydrogen in all sectors of the economy." Finally, it is very important that hydrogen distribution infrastructure is quickly established in Europe.
Bosch invests in hydrogen
In total, Bosch is investing almost €2.5 billion in the development and production of its H₂ technologies from 2021 to 2026. This is another €1 billion more than the investment plan for the period 2021 to 2024 had envisaged.
In addition to the fuel cell drive, Bosch is working on the hydrogen engine and is developing both an intake manifold and a direct injection of hydrogen for this purpose. This solution is particularly suitable for heavy vehicles that are on the road for long periods with especially heavy loads. One advantage is that more than 90 % of existing development and production technologies can be used for this purpose. The H₂ engine is expected to come onto the market in 2024.
"The H₂ engine can do everything the diesel can do, but in a CO₂-neutral way. It also enables a fast and cost-effective entry into mobile hydrogen use," says Dr Markus Heyn, Bosch board of management member and chairman of Bosch Mobility.
(Source: Bosch/2023)
