Hydrogen storage specialist Hexagon Purus has opened a production facility for Type 4 cylinders in Westminster in the US state of Maryland. The plant is designed to produce up to 10,000 cylinders per year for heavy-duty commercial vehicles and can be further expanded.
The new 60,000-square-foot facility will employ up to 150 skilled workers. The new facility is planned to expand cylinder production capabilities and capacity and allows for further expansion by adding additional production equipment as demand for hydrogen storage cylinders continues to grow.
Hexagon Purus adds that as part of the Group’s overall capacity expansion program, the company will relocate its current operation in Taneytown, MD where it has been based since 2003. The Taneytown facility currently produces 1,200 cylinders annually and employs 50 people.
“We are currently providing hydrogen storage solutions for several heavy-duty trucking and transit bus OEMs such as Nikola, Hino and New Flyer, that demand the highest standards. This site will serve a dual role, not only as a top-of-the-line production site but also a technical center of excellence, providing engineering, research, and development for Hexagon Purus Group,” says Dr. Michael Kleschinski, EVP at Hexagon Purus.
The company has not only been active in the USA, however, and joined a hydrogen consortium with several German OEMs last February, with the purpose of developing a new fuel cell tank format for the underbody of future FCEVs. Not long before that, Hexagon Purus had helped form the US Hydrogen Bus Council, to “to advance the hydrogen fuel cell electric bus economy and its applications in the public transit sector”.
Keyword: Hexagon Purus to move to Maryland