MAXIMATOR HYDROGEN: Harnessing Hydrogen’s Abundance to Fuel the Future

Vehicle makers have been experimenting with hydrogen fuel cell technology for years, in their collective bid to crack the formula for successfully using the most abundant resource in the universe to power cars. Hydrogen cars produce zero harmful emissions on the road, and refilling is very similar to filling up with petrol or diesel and is also almost as quick, with a brim-full tank achieved in around five minutes.

The all-important lack of polluting emissions and absence of long waiting times are just some of the many benefits that hydrogen vehicles share with electric cars, while their ranges are now far superior, now eclipsing 350 kilometres in many cases. While the adoption of hydrogen cars, particularly as discussions surrounding extracting hydrogen from water and CO₂-neutral production methods advance, should seem a no-brainer, in reality the practicalities surrounding it have been wrought with complexities.

One of the biggest obstacles to a more widespread take-up has, undoubtedly, been the lack of existing infrastructure, amplified as EV charging points have sprung up with sustained and increasing speed and the convenience of using hydrogen’s main competitor has in turn swelled and taken electric cars fully into the mainstream. With parent company Maximator GmbH the world market leader in high-pressure technology, through abundant innovation and expertise Maximator Hydrogen is poised to intervene, outlines MD Mathias Kurras.

GEARING UP

“We build hydrogen filling stations with passion and thus drive the future,” he outlines. “Our mission is to make hydrogen usable on a large scale and help infrastructure to become climate neutral.” Patience is key, however, Kurras adds – this is a marathon, after all, not a sprint. “We are fuelling the future; we know that in the end there will be hydrogen.”

Maximator Hydrogen was formed as a specific product portfolio in the field of hydrogen application, developed within its parent company, founded on its many years of experience in high-pressure technology. “Coupled with the global outcry for climate-friendly alternatives to fossil drive technology and some visionary minds, we decided to manufacture these hydrogen filling stations,” Kurras explains. “Being able to provide the right technology at the right time made it an even easier decision for us to pursue this endeavour.”

A separate entity since 2019, Maximator Hydrogen’s work began in earnest at the turn of 2022 with the outsourcing of the business unit; this pursuit continues apace, says Kurras. “Unbundling the hydrogen segment from the Maximator Group allows us to plunge our full focus into this business and its many prospects, pursuing the dynamic growth in this sector.

“As well as the many years of expertise in the development and production of compression technologies, and key technologies from Maximator Advanced Technology, we also benefit from the know-how of around 700 hydrogen-relevant patents. We truly envisage the hydrogen compression market as being huge in the near future.”

Already, Kurras elaborates, there has been significant investment which has translated into two production halls, to give Maximator Hydrogen capacity to build 400 refuelling stations each year, and an office building due for completion and move-in before the end of the year. “We also have our own development team, based in Vienna,” says Kurras, “all of whom are former colleagues who we therefore know and trust. As a result, we have developed our own hydrogen compressor, whose technology is really outstanding in the market today.

“The MAX Compression System is one of the modules that work together to ensure that the filling process at the pump is happy. We have included an exclusive feature – an automatic seal exchange – which allows us to replace the seal in the compressor within minutes. This is something which really sets us apart from our competitors, who can take two to three days to accomplish the same. It is a significant USP for us, especially with regard applications to commercial vehicles, which is our main focus at this point in time.”

As the demand for hydrogen in transportation increases, it is imperative to develop infrastructure to supply trucks, buses, and cars. Hydrogen has been posited as the key missing link and a leading opportunity to decarbonise hard-to-abate sectors, and long-haul trucking has found a particular ally in hydrogen-powered fuel and hydrogen combustion, offering not only faster refuelling and greater range to increase the uptime potential for trucks, but lower weight, too, compared with batteries, which improves payload capacity.

BRANCHING OUT

“We offer the lowest Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) in the market,” Kurras reveals, of the crucial KPI that the highly competitive transportation industry needs to manage, “and there is a huge amount of importance being placed on this factor in order to make hydrogen competitive with diesel. This is enabling us to gain a lot of momentum right now. Overall, technology-wise we are the market leader worldwide, and in terms of the number of new hydrogen stations brought into service over recent years we are leading the way in Europe.”

As Kurras recognises, this is already a glittering success story, but one which shows no signs of abating. “We are now looking to double everything – the number of employees, of stations – each year,” he enthuses. “Obviously these are huge growth rates, but we are very much on track to fulfil and maybe even exceed them.”

Pivotal to achieving such lofty aspirations, Kurras is confident in the power of the partnerships Maximator Hydrogen is forging through the expertise and innovation it evinces, which include some of the giants of the industry. “We are delivering a lot of stations to Shell into the USA, and by the end of this year we will have provided up to 50 in California. We also have a number of projects with them in Europe,” Kurras adds, as Maximator Hydrogen quickly branches out of its origins in Germany and Switzerland.

“A lot of neighbouring countries are now on our map,” he relays. “We have delivered bus stations to Vienna and the Netherlands, and prototype refuelling stations to Sweden. We are looking now to step into the markets in Australia and the Middle East, while strengthening our strong position in North America and obviously consolidating our leading European status.”

Now, Kurras goes on, defined, separate business areas are emerging for Maximator Hydrogen. “The next really big area for us is delivering our hydrogen compressors for trailer filling and pressurising of hydrogen for processors and pipelines, for example, which is much more industry-focussed. We therefore have this clear dual focus: on-road mobility, which encompasses our refuelling stations, combined with the industry side.

“Off-highway is a third area which is really beginning to boom for us, as a number of mines in the world begin to convert their huge trucks to using hydrogen. This then necessitates completely new, and much bigger, refuelling stations, which for us is hugely exciting. Machinery used in construction and agriculture, too, fall under this same bracket, all of which is really driving this section of the business.

“We are targeting really fast growth at this moment in time, in order to deliver on the numbers to market need.” Such rapid growth in such a short space of time is testament to its specialist knowledge and technological USPs, with separation from the Maximator Group condensing every ounce of the 360-degree hydrogen know-how of the hydraulics specialists into a full focus on this field.

“More than 130 years of experience are behind our high solution competence in the field of machine and component construction,” Kurras concludes. “The combination of this tradition with a high degree of vertical integration and sustainable innovations allows us to develop the most suitable and efficient solutions with, and for, our customers, for the entire value chain of hydrogen technologies.”