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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.

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 Dr.-Ing. Herbert Pfab, Technical Director of Liebherr-Werk Bischofshofen GmbH. 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.

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