Liebherr and STRABAG test hydrogen wheel loader

Leonore Gewessler (Minister for Climate Action), Clemens Haselsteiner (CEO of STRABAG), Martin Graf (Director of Energie Steiermark) and Jan Liebherr (Chairman of the Board of Directors of Liebherr-International AG) attended a special event at the Gratkorn quarry to mark the start of the project for the first test use of the large hydrogen powered wheel loader. In addition to technical presentations and a tour of the quarry, the hydrogen-powered wheel loader was demonstrated in operation. For the next two years, STRABAG will be testing the L 566 H prototype on a daily basis. A hydrogen filling station is being built to refuel the wheel loader directly at the quarry. The energy supplier Energie Steiermark will provide the green hydrogen required for this.

Leonore Gewessler – Federal Minister for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology – praised Liebherr’s exemplary commitment to reducing greenhouse and other harmful gases and its cooperation with STRABAG on testing hydrogen technology: “I am pleased to see innovative companies pushing ahead with pilot projects, especially in forms of mobility that are difficult to electrify, such as those in the construction sector,” said Gewessler.

Liebherr has provided STRABAG with the L 566 H prototype as a test machine. The large wheel loader with a hydrogen engine should save up to 100 tpy of CO₂, corresponding to about 37 500 litres of diesel. “We want to be climate neutral by 2040. The only way to achieve this is by consistently and comprehensively saving CO₂, for example, in the operation of construction machinery,” explained STRABAG CEO, Klemens Haselsteiner.

Read the article online at: https://www.globalhydrogenreview.com/hydrogen/15102024/liebherr-and-strabag-test-hydrogen-wheel-loader/