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The first publicly available hydrogen refuelling station under the NESO brand is now open to drivers
Polsat Plus Group and ZE PAK Group have built and launched the first publicly available hydrogen refuelling station for cars and buses. The network of hydrogen refuelling stations will be built under the NESO brand. The name comes from the first letters of "Nie Emituję Spalin, Oczyszczam (I do not emit exhaust gases, I clean it)". It is one of the most modern hydrogen refuelling stations in Europe. The first station is located in Warsaw's Ursynów district.
Green hydrogen is a clean and zero-emission fuel. Hydrogen-powered cars and buses emit "distilled" water vapor from the exhaust pipe. Hydrogen cars and buses are already being produced in series.
The hydrogen refuelling station in Warsaw built by Polsat Plus Group and ZE PAK Group is the first publicly available station of this type in Poland. It will be possible to refuel both cars and buses there. Refuelling is almost no different from that at a gas station. It takes just a few minutes to fully refuel a car, and less than a quarter of an hour for a bus. Currently widely available hydrogen cars can travel over 600 km on one refuelling.
Range over 600 km
Refuelling looks exactly the same as at a traditional station - you remove the "gun" from the dispenser, put it in the car, press the button and start refuelling. After a few minutes, the car is fully fuelled and its range is over 600 km.
The station is fully self-service, the dispenser with a pressure of 700 bar is intended for refuelling cars, and the one with a pressure of 350 bar - for buses. Hydrogen is delivered to the station using hydrogen locomotives, which transport up to 1,000 kg of H2 at a time.
- The breakthrough lies in the fact that using a hydrogen car does not differ much from using a combustion car. We do not change the user experience. We refuel a hydrogen car in just a few minutes and have a range of over 600 km - says Maciej Stec, Vice-President for Strategic Affairs of Polsat Plus Group and Member of the Supervisory Board of ZE PAK Group.
- Hydrogen cars are equipped with an electric engine just like battery electric cars, but the difference is the way of energy delivery. Cars that are commonly understood as electric are powered by large batteries, and a hydrogen car has its own "small" power plant and does not need them. In a fuel cell, hydrogen combines with oxygen from the air and energy is produced on an ongoing basis. A hydrogen car has only a small battery, several dozen times smaller than battery electric cars, which only recovers energy from braking. The electric motor in a hydrogen car is powered by electricity generated while driving. A hydrogen car running on green hydrogen not only does not emit exhaust gases, but also cleans the air - adds Maciej Stec.
There is no combustion process
Electricity in a hydrogen car is generated on an ongoing basis from refueled hydrogen using a fuel cell. Hydrogen vehicles have their own "mini-power plant". Physically, hydrogen from the tank combines with oxygen taken from the air and electricity is generated to power the electric motor. The intake air must be fully cleaned by special filters so that the fuel cell receives pure oxygen. There is no combustion process. As a result of combining hydrogen with oxygen in a fuel cell, a car or bus emits distilled water vapor from the exhaust pipe.
Green hydrogen-powered buses and cars do not emit exhaust gases and additionally purify the air. They do not emit toxic substances - apart from CO2, they mainly contain nitrogen oxides and dust, in particular fine PM 2.5 dust.
The NESO station, owned by the Polsat Plus Group and the ZE PAK Group, is largely energy self-sufficient. Solar panels installed at the station with a capacity of 19 kW provide electricity to the station, and energy storage facilities with a capacity of 60 kWh can store its surplus.
