Industry is urging the German Government to resume hydrogen transport funding after it was suspended following allegations of nepotism against the Transport Ministry’s former head of hydrogen and fuel cells.
In a letter to Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Transport Minister Volker Wissing, Finance Minister Christian Lindner, and Climate Minister Robert Habeck, organisations warned that Germany was on the verge of missing transport sector climate targets by not using hydrogen.
The group of industry players including H2 Mobility, Honda, Toyota, Hydrogen Europe and more pleaded to the government to “immediately resume the promotion of hydrogen mobility” and approve funding applications that have already been submitted.
“Germany is a leading market for hydrogen applications and thus the local technological leadership is at stake,” the letter reads.
It comes after the Transport Ministry (BMDV) halted hydrogen funding in February (2024) amid investigations of alleged nepotism by its former hydrogen and fuel cell head.
Read more: German transport ministry halts hydrogen funding amid nepotism allegations
A week prior to the funding suspension, Minister Wissing sacked Klaus Bonhoff who headed the ministry’s Hydrogen and Fuel Cells in Mobility department after allegations in the German press said Bonhoff had diverted funding to a hydrogen project where a personal connection was a beneficiary.
The allegations were first made in 2023, which sparked a BMDV investigation which concluded there was “no undue influence” on Bonhoff’s part in the approval.
However, the BMDV said after further media reports, “it has now become known that additional emails exist…but were not presented to the internal audit office. The emails in question could therefore not be included in the final findings.”
The emails uncovered by Spiegal appear to suggest a pattern of favouritism towards Werner, Diwald, CEO of the Germany Hydrogen Fuel Cell Association (DWV), who was said to be a “friend” of Bonhoff.
In 2022, DWV announced it would be supported with some €1.4m ($1.5m) for its planned HyMobility Innovation Cluster, which has reportedly been discussed in the emails between Diwald and Bonhoff.
BMDV subsequently reopened the investigation as it suspended funding approval.
Now, however, the letter from industry said the funding suspension “prevents climate targets from being achieved.”
The letter said climate targets can only be achieved through joint political and industry efforts.
“Both must invest here – the industry is ready for this. However, postponing the important support for the development of a hydrogen refuelling infrastructure and the associated (commercial) vehicles as consumers of hydrogen is leading to massive uncertainty and a loss of trust far beyond Germany’s borders.”
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