Bolzano’s hydrogen station upgrade doubles capacity and adds 700-bar refuelling
Crews have begun expanding the SASA hydrogen refuelling station in Bolzano, Italy, one of Europe’s earliest dedicated hydrogen bus hubs.
The upgrade will more than double capacity for the city’s fuel cell bus fleet and, for the first time, allow private cars and heavy-duty vehicles to refuel at the site.
Austria’s Wolftank Group, which built the original station in 2021, secured a €5.1 million contract in early 2024 to deliver the expansion, with roughly half of the budget allocated to the company.
Bolzano introduced hydrogen buses in 2013 and remains Italy’s leading region for hydrogen-powered public transport.
Multi-vehicle refuelling
The existing site serves SASA’s bus fleet with a single compressor, 450-bar storage, and twin dispensers cooled to -20°C.
Wolftank’s expansion adds:
- A multi-dispenser for buses at 350 bar and passenger or heavy-duty vehicles at 700 bar
- Two 500-bar compressors and a 950-bar unit to boost throughput
- A new cooling system capable of -20°C to -40°C for the multi-dispenser
- A second trailer box for two extra cylinder trailers, increasing onsite hydrogen storage to 2 tonnes
These upgrades make Bolzano one of the few truly multi-purpose hydrogen refuelling stations in southern Europe.
A decade of hydrogen in South Tyrol
SASA put its first fuel cell buses into service more than a decade ago. Notably, Wolftank delivered the current station in just nine weeks in 2021, unusually quick for a facility of its scale.
Operators across Europe are now upgrading early hydrogen stations to support a wider mix of vehicles, rather than building separate networks.
Germany’s leading hydrogen network operator, H2 MOBILITY, for instance, is following the same path, converting solely car-focused sites to handle trucks and heavy-duty vehicles as demand grows.
Regional ambitions
South Tyrol’s government aims to decarbonise its transport network by 2030. Expanding Bolzano’s station strengthens the region’s position as Italy’s most advanced hydrogen hub, supporting both municipal fleets and long-haul logistics.
Wolftank is deploying similar projects in Germany, Austria, and Spain, showing how multi-use hydrogen infrastructure can scale quickly while Europe’s overall network remains fragmented.
