Israel opens first hydrogen fuel station

A hydrogen truck at a Sonol station

Sonol, a company that operates regular petroleum-based fuel stations in Israel, has opened the country’s first hydrogen fuel station in the Haifa Bay. The world is seeing more and more hydrogen energy breakthroughs and countries nearby like Saudi Arabia are investing in hydrogen fuel.

Sonol is Israel’s third largest gas station chain. Israel’s Ministry of Energy identified a fuel port near Haifa as one of its economic development projects in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Sonol won this tender and worked with Germany’s H2 Mobility on this project. Sonol has also collaborated with Bazam petrochemical refining and the vehicle dealer Colmobile to bring hydrogen powered trucks to this port city.

The Hydrogen station is built close to northern Israel’s Kibbutz Yagur, six miles from the Bazan oil refineries at Haifa Bay. The same Sonol station offers regular fuel pumps and recharging stations for electric cars. It will soon start producing solar energy on the roof to be self-sufficient for its maintenance needs. 

The estimated $3.3 million hydrogen project is a partnership between Sonol, Bazan, a hydrogen manufacturer and and car importer Colmobil, which has supplied the first three hydrogen trucks.

The transportation sector is responsible for about 20% of Israel’s greenhouse gas emissions.

Advantages of hydrogen fuel

As transport fuel, hydrogen has several advantages compared to traditional fossil fuels and electric batteries. Its mass energy density is extremely high which is why it is used to power fuel cells in spacecraft. When it is burned, it produces only water vapor with virtually no harmful air pollution and no carbon dioxide. It can be produced from water using green energy sources or found in natural geological deposits. This makes it an excellent fuel to combat climate change.

Filling is faster than charging: The time required to fill fuel tanks for Hydrogen fuel cells is much shorter than the time required to charge batteries 

Hydrogen’s volume density is relatively low which means it needs a large fuel tank compared to gasoline or diesel fuel. This is why some of the earliest adoption of hydrogen as a transport fuel will be in large commercial vehicles such as the Hyundai Xcient trucks which will be fuelled at the Haifa port. This Hydrogen station will help Israel keep up with other nations in the adoption of this promising new fuel.

Hyundai enters the hydrogen market in the Middle East

Hyundai is bringing its hydrogen fuel cell truck Xcient to Israel, its first market in the Middle East. The aim is to form a hydrogen value chain in Israel. Hyundai’s plan align with Israel’s target to slash national greenhouse gas emissions by 27 per cent by 2030 and by 85 per cent by 2050, relative to 2015 emission levels.

“We are thrilled to support the Israel government’s strong commitment to building a sustainable future,” said Mark Freymueller, a VP at Hyundai. “Establishing the first hydrogen infrastructure in Israel in close collaboration with the country’s key players marks a significant milestone in our efforts to build a sustainable hydrogen value chain around the world.”

Haifa Bay is notoriously polluted. Israel energy and chemical infrastructure for industry operates in this area side-by-side with a growing residential city. We met recently with Ecoocean’s Andreas Weil, who founded Israel’s most influential marine protection NGO. He wonders why in most developed nations such ports are kept far from cities but in Israel they sit side-by-side. Development in more ecological areas is good but maybe it’s time to start moving fuel operations further away from city centers. 

Karin Kloosterman contributed to this report

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