BOLZANO. «Stop all public investments in hydrogen mobility and establish a commission of experts to re-orient the hydrogen strategy.” The asks Klima Club Alto Adige (Kcs), which calls for an urgent review of Alto Adige’s strategy on the matter. The KCS supports the use of hydrogen in sectors such as seasonal energy storage or the production of green chemicals and steel, but it is against the use of hydrogen for buses, trains and heavy vehicles.
«Alto Adige – explains the Kcs – is investing several million euros in hydrogen buses and hydrogen refueling stations. The same amount could already be used to finance a greater number of battery electric buses in urban and interurban areas. In particular, the electrical infrastructure for charging electric buses and trucks must be expanded rapidly.”
Battery propulsion appears more advantageous from an energy, economic and market availability point of view than hydrogen propulsion (which “is only a niche solution”). The association of experts continues: «South Tyrol, with its high availability of electricity, the quality of the often polluted air and the ideal topography of the terrain, offers the perfect conditions for battery electric buses as a key for environmentally friendly public transport, especially when it is not possible to use network-based means of transport such as trains or trams.”
Therefore the KCS asks those responsible “to change course and pave the way for clean and future-proof mobility”. and with the slogan “facts and not fake news on the climate crisis” it launches its own project which enjoys the support of the Cassa di Risparmio Foundation. On its website, the association offers insights, podcasts and interviews on the energy transition and the climate crisis. The materials are only available in German.