The Bosch company is a world leader in various fields, including green tech and fuel cells. In the Greentech area, Bosch focuses on the development and production of environmentally friendly technologies and solutions to reduce energy consumption and emissions.
Now the tech giant from Stuttgart is opening a whole new chapter in that the group is manufacturing fuel cell drives for cars & Co. in series production for the first time.
Hydrogen-based drives in series production
The technology company Bosch has started series production of hydrogen-based drives. “Bosch can do hydrogen, and Bosch is growing with hydrogen,” said Bosch boss Stefan Hartung on Thursday. The drive systems are manufactured at the traditional locations in Stuttgart-Feuerbach and in Chongqing, China.
Bosch Greentech: The pilot customer is the US company Nikola
The pilot customer is the US company Nikola. The developer of commercial vehicles therefore wants to launch a truck on the North American market in the fall that will be powered by the system.
In total, there are four series orders from Europe, China and the USA. In the first expansion stage, several thousand systems are to be produced annually. “Then we will hopefully add another zero in the years that follow,” said Markus Heyn, Managing Director of Bosch’s important supplier division.
The strongest market developments can initially be seen in China.
Greentech Bosch hydrogen fuel cell production
Bosch hydrogen is the energy carrier of the future
Hydrogen is considered the energy carrier of the future. When using so-called green hydrogen, which is generated with green electricity, no greenhouse gases are produced. However, to produce it, water has to be split into hydrogen and oxygen, which requires a great deal of energy.
For Bosch, hydrogen is an important topic for the future. The group develops technology for the generation as well as the application of the energy source. On Thursday, the long-established company announced that it intends to increase its investments in the area – to almost 2.5 billion euros by 2026. By 2030, Bosch is aiming for sales of around five billion euros with the technology.
Greentech Bosch hydrogen fuel cell
Many employees are also hoping for hydrogen production. Because tens of thousands of jobs in the supplier division still depend on the combustion engine. The hydrogen business helps secure employment, said Hartung.
More than 3,000 of the approximately 420,000 Bosch associates worldwide already work in this area. The majority of hydrogen positions are therefore filled by employees from the drive sector.
In the field of fuel cells, Bosch researches and develops efficient and sustainable energy generation systems. Fuel cells are devices that convert chemical energy directly into electrical energy using hydrogen as a fuel.
Greentech: Bosch fuel cell systems
Bosch develops fuel cell systems for various applications, including stationary power generation, mobile applications such as vehicles, and wearable devices.
Focus on Bosch hydrogen and fuel cells
Bosch sees fuel cell technologies as a promising solution for a sustainable energy supply of the future. Through the development of efficient fuel cell systems, Bosch strives to reduce the use of fossil fuels and decrease CO2 emissions to address climate change and promote greener energy options.