Hydrogen fueling installation at gas station near Haifa Bay is product of collaboration between gas station operator Sonol, fuel supplier Bazan and vehicle importer Colmobil.
By Abigail Klein Leichman, ISRAEL21c
Israel’s first hydrogen fueling spot has opened, heralding the start of hydrogen-based transportation in Israel.
“We are proud to launch a pioneering project in the field of energy, which will enable the movement of non-polluting hydrogen-based vehicles with zero emissions and air pollution,” said Nir Galili, CEO of the Sonol Energy Group, which operates gas stations across Israel.
Sonol collaborated on the hydrogen fueling installation at one of its gas stations near Haifa Bay with fuel supplier Bazan Group and vehicle importer Colmobil Group, which brought to Israel the first three Hyundai trucks powered by hydrogen fuel cells.
“In the next 10 years, millions of vehicles will hit the road and Israel will suffocate from the pollution that will be created and we will all pay a high price,” Galili continued.
“It is the government’s duty to make Israel a leader in the field of hydrogen energy through a comprehensive plan that will support and stimulate this important transition, which affords not only economic and national benefits, but also the saving of human lives — no less than that.”
The new hydrogen fueling spot is in an existing Sonol station that has gas pumps and electric vehicle recharging stations, and is slated to become a solar energy storage facility as well.
The three partners said they plan to open more such stations in Israel – each costing about 5 million shekels, or $1.4 million — depending on how the hydrogen-powered vehicle market grows. Bazan, an oil refinery in Haifa, will produce the hydrogen and transport it to the stations.
Sonol noted that water is the only byproduct of the electrochemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen in the fuel cell.