Metacon to reform ethanol into green hydrogen for off-grid electric vehicle charging
The Switzerland-based company WattAnyWhere (WaW) orders its second reforming system from Metacon’s subsidiary Helbio, for conversion from ethanol-to-green hydrogen.
The system will be used for on-site production of electricity without connection to the electricity grid, i.e. off-grid. Produced electricity will be used in charging stations for electric vehicle (BEV) charging. This follows a previous order from Metacon’s successful delivery to WaW of a smaller system.
The new order becomes a part of WaW’s scaling up as a player with commercial electric car charging stations. The order value amounts to approximately EUR 193 000. Delivery is planned for the fourth quarter of 2023.
Metacon’s core technologies around green hydrogen as a fuel is emerging as one of the key future solutions for important parts of the transportation market, the battery-electric vehicle (BEV) market has already grown to take a significant position in automotive and conventional car traffic.
Metacon’s Helbio unit has significant know-how as well as intellectual property for the type of development required for the construction and will manufacture and install the core reforming unit converting ethanol to hydrogen for further processing in fuel cells to create electricity for charging.
Christer Wikner said, “It is very pleasing to see that we are now taking the next big step in the collaboration with WattAnyWhere and the scaling up of this transformative technology. By utilizing the very large and well-distributed amounts of renewable ethanol already available in Europe as a raw material for the production of green hydrogen, we can contribute our solution directly to the very rapid growth and major challenges that exist within the battery electric transport sector“.
While Mr. Didier Roux commented: “It is quite clear that expansion of electrification, as well as clean electricity production sufficient to meet the growing battery electric vehicle market, has significant challenges. Therefore, we are extremely happy to now take this next step towards practical demonstration of our renewables-based off-grid generator and support the deployment of BEV fast-charging.”