Liebherr and Strabag test hydrogen wheel loader

Together with Strabag, Liebherr is taking important steps towards a decarbonised construction site. In a project that recently started at the Kanzelstein quarry in Gratkorn, Strabag is testing Liebherr’s large hydrogen-powered wheel loader over a period of two years. Energie Steiermark will supply green hydrogen for its own hydrogen filling station at the quarry. The L 566 H wheel loader is the world’s first large wheel loader with a hydrogen engine.

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)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,” says Gewessler. The cooperation with Strabag, one of the foremost construction companies in Europe, shows what an important and positive development the Liebherr drive technology is. Liebherr is delighted to hear this appreciation and acknowledgement of the path that it has chosen.

As one of the biggest manufacturers of construction machinery, 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 tonnes of CO₂ each year, 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,” explains Strabag CEO Klemens Haselsteiner.

The L 566 H from Liebherr is the world’s first prototype large wheel loader with a hydrogen engine. “The technology also enables large vehicles that are difficult to electrify due to their high energy demand to be operated without CO₂,” explains Herbert Pfab, Technical Director of Liebherr-Werk Bischofshofen. The hydrogen engines are manufactured by the Liebherr components division’s own engine plant in Bulle, Switzerland. These engines will not only make it possible to emit zero greenhouse gases and almost no nitrogen oxides, but will also offer excellent efficiency.

With the pilot project, Liebherr and Strabag are demonstrating how emissions can be reduced in a sector that is difficult to decarbonise by means of alternative fuels. Climate-neutral hydrogen produced with wind and water power or solar energy can be a key enabler for achieving the goal of climate neutrality set by Austria’s politicians. “Green hydrogen is an indispensable element of our future energy. As an important and valuable energy source, it helps replace fossil natural gas – especially in industry,” said climate action minister Gewessler. What makes the two-year test deployment at the Gratkorn quarry such a showcase project is, above all, the joint approach of Liebherr and Strabag: two companies that are actively pushing decarbonisation forward.