Recently, the company IONTRAK was formed from the project Hylix-B promoted by the Ministry for the Environment of Baden-Wuerttemberg, fitting out trucks with hydrogen propulsions, developing
corresponding special components and having its headquarters in Zell unter Aichelberg. The Boysen Group is founding member of the start-up. As part of its transformation strategy, the Boysen Group is increasingly relying on hydrogen technology.
In the funding project Hylix-B, a fully electric 26 ton truck with fuel cell drive and a range of 500 kilometres was built within the last two years – on the one hand, in order to support the sustainability of the hydrogen
technology for the freight traffic and non the other hand, in order to show how a scaling of the demand for green hydrogen could look like with corresponding changeover of the vehicle parcs.
Research in the completed project Hylix-B have been set up transdisciplinary and did have in mind not only the techniques but also the market demand and social needs, as the composition of the team shows: Professor Dr. Ralf Wörner who leads the Institute for sustainable power engineering and mobility at the Esslingen University (HSE); vehicle converter EFA-S GmbH from Zell unter Aichelberg with shareholder and idea provider Reinhardt Ritter with 20 million of kilometres experience in electric mobility; SWE-Mobility UG with hydrogen expert Sebastian Wider; Frank Ulmer of the communication office Ulmer Ltd. for the issues of social transformation. Above that, the Große-Vehne company agreed to support the project and to test the research with regard to practicability. Besides, Daimler Truck has supported the research project in the field of software and vehicle interface. From the agile and pragmatic approach, a company was founded: the IONTRAK Ltd.
The business goal of the new founded company: „Development, industrialization, production and marketing of vehicles with alternative drive and their components. In this context, IONTRAK sees itself as a high-grade specialist when it comes to the preparation of mass productions and as a producer of small batches in the field of hydrogen trucks “, according to the managers Michael Herrmann and Dr. Till Kaz. Furthermore, CTO Kaz explains: „We went straight into the project business. Already in the fourth quarter of this year, a 26-ton truck driven with hydrogen will get the road approval. A unique piece, however. But already now, the completion of further components from the environment of hydrogen, battery and conversion is crystallizing. We will develop these to market maturity.“
The Minister for the Environment of Baden-Wuerttemberg Thekla Walker rates the formation of the company also as a success of the development programme BWPLUS: „The formation of the IONTRAK Ltd. out of the research project Hylix-B shows another positive development of the funding project set in motion by us. Of course, the formation makes me very happy and it also shows that the matching of technical innovation, economicalness and social change in projects like this is successful. Also in logistics, it can be seen that the fast spread of hydrogen technologies and the crucial infrastructure for it are essential for a successful energy revolution."
What makes the persons involved especially happy is, that the Boysen Group, seated in Altensteig, as one of the top 100 international suppliers could be found as co-founder and partner. „Looking at the sales
development within the last 20 years, Boysen is one of the strongest suppliers on the market, having not only a worldwide production network, but also an impressive development-know-how and ultra-modern test facilities“, says HSE representative Wörner, adding: „What was almost even more decisive for us: Boysen has early discerned the signs and requirements of the technologic transformation and in the last years it has built up an impressive expertise in the fields of E-Mobility and hydrogen technology. Among these are new product lines like structural components, battery cases and hydrogen tank systems that will also be used in the truck-modifications by IONTRAK. I am very pleased, that the Esslingen University and Boysen can grow together and make a profit of each other in such projects. “
That is why the leading manager of the Boysen Innovation Center in Nagold, Mathias Keck is talking about a win-win-situation: „The participation in IONTRAK gives us access to the whole vehicle architecture. Across our system boundaries, we have a decisive increase in information in order to design new product lines like hydrogen tank systems more purposeful auszulegen and by testing on our own truck, we can place it faster on the market.“
Boysen CEO Rolf Geisel adds: „IONTRAK ideally fits our started hydrogen offensive. We are convinced that this technology has future potential and therefore we are currently investing 40 million euros into the construction of an own development center for hydrogen technologies in the Northern Black Forest. Amongst others, there we will put into operation a hydrogen filling station for 350 and 700 and push on the manufacturing of green hydrogen via an elektrolyzer with a capacity of one megawatt.“
***
The core business of the Boysen Group, headquartered in Altensteig (Baden-Württemberg), is the development and production of high-performance exhaust systems and components for passenger cars, commercial vehicles and off- highway applications. In addition to the three main customers Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz, the exhaust technology specialist works for the German car manufacturers Volkswagen and Porsche, the English brands Bentley and Rolls-Royce, the commercial vehicle manufacturers Daimler and MAN, and in the field of off-highway applications for Krauss Maffei, mtu, Voith and others
In the course of technological change within the automotive industry, Boysen is focusing not only on innovative exhaust technologies but also on new product groups that can be used in all vehicles - regardless of the type of drive. The foundation company sees another important component of its future strategy in the field of energy technology, with a particular focus on topics such as hydrogen, fuel cells and stationary energy storage.
The Boysen Group currently employs around 5,200 people at 27 sites in Germany and abroad. In addition to the development sites in Altensteig and Nagold, Boysen has production sites in Altensteig, Simmersfeld, Heubach, Salching, Ingolstadt, Plauen and Achim as well as in France, Egypt, South Africa, India, China, Mexico, Serbia, Romania and the USA.
***
For further questions please contact:
Christian Grimm
Marketing Team Leader
BIN Boysen Innovationszentrum Nagold GmbH & Co. KG
Carl-Friedrich-Gauss-Str. 4
72202 Nagold
Tel. 07452/8408-200
Fax 07452/8408-8200
E-mail christian.grimm(at)bin.boysen-online.de
For technical questions:
Dr. Till Kaz
CTO
Iontrak GmbH
Daimlerstraße 14
73199 Zell u. A.
Tel. 07164/9181706
E-Mail: till.kaz@iontrak.com
For publication free – proof requested
