OREANDA-NEWS. Today, Air Liquide inaugurated a hydrogen filling station in the city of Saint-Lo in the Manche department. The Manche General Council is the first local authority in France to have a hydrogen station for its vehicles. This decision is a reflection of the department’s will to develop the hydrogen energy industry and to play a pioneering role in this field.

The Manche General Council had trusted Air Liquide in July 2014 with the design and delivery of the station. It will, at first, supply the community’s ten Electric Vehicles. In a second stage, thirty more vehicles from partnering communities and buses are to use the station.

In France, the implementation of this hydrogen filling station is a first step in the deployment of an infrastructure making it possible to provide this natural energy, an alternative to fossil fuels, for a sustainable mobility.

Air Liquide is actively involved in setting up the hydrogen energy industry at global level, contributing to meet the challenges of the energy transition. The Group has already built several hydrogen filling stations for the general public in Europe, notably in Rotterdam in the Netherlands, in Dusseldorf in Germany and in several cities in Denmark as well as in the United States and in Japan. The Air Liquide hydrogen filling station enable to refill a vehicle’s tank in less than 5 minutes offering a driving range that can reach up to 500km in average.