PressClub Portugal · Article.
BMW Group Plant Regensburg launches hydrogen-powered logistics fleet
Mon Nov 25 10:00:00 CET 2024 Informação à Imprensa
+++ Use of hydrogen in intralogistics – components delivered to all production areas by hydrogen-powered tugger trains and forklift trucks +++ Gradual transition from electric to hydrogen propulsion by 2030 +++
Press Contact.
Joao Trincheiras
BMW Group
Tel: +351-21-487-3080
send an e-mail
Author.
Christian Duerrschmidt
BMW Group
+++ Use of hydrogen in intralogistics – components delivered to all production areas by hydrogen-powered tugger trains and forklift trucks +++ Gradual transition from electric to hydrogen propulsion by 2030 +++
Regensburg. BMW Group Plant Regensburg plans to
utilise hydrogen for its production logistics going forward. Starting
in 2026, hydrogen-powered tugger trains and forklift trucks will be
deployed for all transport and logistics tasks. This includes
operations in the press shop, body shop and assembly, ensuring that
the necessary components and individual parts are delivered to the
correct locations for installation.
The project aims to capitalise on the benefits of hydrogen
propulsion. “The gradual transition from electric to hydrogen
propulsion brings us another step closer to the BMW iFACTORY, our
digital and sustainable factory of the future,” says Armin Ebner, head
of BMW Group Plant Regensburg.
“Switching production logistics from electricity to hydrogen
will diversify our plant’s energy mix – while optimising logistics
processes and saving valuable space,” explains Project Manager
Katharina Radtke. “The advantage of hydrogen is that refuelling is
very fast – just like with conventional fuels. The filling stations
required for this will be installed directly within the different
production areas and do not take up much space.”
The entire logistics fleet at the Regensburg plant is currently
being equipped with electric drive trains. The batteries used in the
industrial trucks need to be changed twice per shift. Battery
replacement, which is performed manually using a crane, takes about 15
minutes and requires space.
To ensure the wide-scale supply of hydrogen in the future, BMW
Group plant Regensburg will install a two-kilometre-long pipeline
network, with six decentralised filling stations, between now and
early 2026. These stations will supply the logistics fleet in the
various production areas with hydrogen, delivered in special trailers
that can also be used for interim storage. “Once the conversion is
completed, our annual hydrogen consumption will be around 150 tonnes,”
says Radtke.
The logistics fleet at BMW Group Plant Regensburg currently
comprises about 230 tugger train haulers and forklift trucks. The
transition will be completed in stages by 2030.
BMW Group Corporate Communications
Christian Dürrschmidt, Communications
Regensburg
Cell phone: +49 151 6060 5194
Email: Christian.Duerrschmidt@bmw.de
Saskia Graser, head of Communications Regensburg and
Wackersdorf
Cell phone: +49 151 6060 2014
Email: Saskia.Graser@bmw.de
Media website: www.press.bmwgroup.com
Email: presse@bmw.de
BMW Group Plants Regensburg and Wackersdorf
The BMW Group has viewed itself for decades as the
benchmark for production technology and operational excellence in
vehicle construction – including at its locations in Regensburg and
Wackersdorf. The BMW Group vehicle plant in Regensburg has been in
operation since 1986 and is one of more than 30 BMW Group production
locations worldwide. A total of up to 1,400 vehicles of the BMW X1 and
BMW X2 models come off the production line at Plant Regensburg every
workday – destined for customers all over the world. Different types
of drive trains are flexibly manufactured on a single production line
– from vehicles with internal combustion engines to plug-in hybrids,
to fully-electric models.
High-voltage batteries for the electric models built in
Regensburg are also produced locally, in direct proximity to the
vehicle plant. They are assembled at the electric component production
facility, which opened in 2021 at the Leibnizstrasse location.
BMW Innovation Park Wackersdorf also belongs to the Regensburg
site. The 55-hectare campus built in the 1980s was originally intended
as a nuclear reprocessing facility. The BMW Group has located its
cockpit production there, as well as its parts supply for overseas
plants. In addition to BMW as the largest employer, several other
companies are also based at Innovation Park Wackersdorf. A total of
around 2,500 employees work there.
The BMW Group core staff at
the Regensburg and Wackersdorf locations in eastern Bavaria is made up
of around 9,250 employees, including more than 300 apprentices.
www.bmwgroup-werke.com/regensburg/de.html