BMW Connects Leipzig Plant to Hydrogen Pipeline - Energy Transition in Automotive Industry

Energy BMW Connects Leipzig Plant to Hydrogen Pipeline

2025-10-01 From Thomas Günnel | Translated by AI 1 min Reading Time

BMW plans to connect the Leipzig site to a hydrogen pipeline. The gas is set to flow starting in mid-2027.

Signing of contracts to connect the BMW Group Plant Leipzig to a hydrogen pipeline: Petra Peterhänsel (Head of BMW Group Plant Leipzig), Christian Rosin (Head of Implementation and Operations at MITNETZ GAS), and Ralph Bahke (Managing Director of System Management and Development at ONTRAS Gastransport) – from left to right.(Image: BMW) — Signing of contracts to connect the BMW Group Plant Leipzig to a hydrogen pipeline: Petra Peterhänsel (Head of BMW Group Plant Leipzig), Christian Rosin (Head of Implementation and Operations at MITNETZ GAS), and Ralph Bahke (Managing Director of System Management and Development at ONTRAS Gastransport) – from left to right.
(Image: BMW)

BMW plans to connect its plant in Leipzig to a hydrogen pipeline, making it the world's first automotive manufacturing facility with such a gas supply. Representatives from the automaker have signed contracts with Mitnetz GAS and Ontras Gas Transport for this purpose. Mitnetz Gas will build a connection line of approximately two kilometers from the plant to the future hydrogen core network, including a gas pressure regulation and measurement facility. Ontras ensures the network connection. Hydrogen is set to flow through the pipeline starting in mid-2027.

The previous hydrogen delivery by truck in pressurized cylinders will then become obsolete. “With the supply from a pipeline, we can use hydrogen in completely new dimensions in the future. This is especially true for our energy-intensive processes, such as the dryers in the paint shop,” explains Petra Peterhänsel, head of the Leipzig plant.

Long Experience with Hydrogen at the Site

At this location, BMW had already put into operation the world's first fuel-flexible burner in the paint shop in October 2022. The paint shop currently has eleven bivalent burners that can burn natural gas or hydrogen. Since 2013, forklifts and tugger trains powered by hydrogen fuel cells have been operating in the plant's intralogistics. There are now 230 vehicles—according to BMW, the largest fleet of its kind in Europe. The hydrogen is supplied to these vehicles from nine fueling stations located in the plant.

The Hydrogen Core Network

The hydrogen core network is a planned infrastructure of approximately 9,000 kilometers of hydrogen pipelines across Germany. This network is set to be gradually commissioned by 2032, connecting Germany to the regional hydrogen network.

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Date: 08.12.2025

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