High-tech for the hydrogen mobility of tomorrow

cellcentric GmbH & Co. KG is a joint venture between Daimler Truck and the Volvo Group, founded in 2021 – with the aim of making a significant contribution to a climate-neutral and sustainable transport sector as the world’s leading manufacturer of fuel cell systems. The technical equipment at the Esslingen site is supplied by M&P.

An industry giant is gathering momentum for the climate transition: in future, an increasing number of zero-emission cellcentric fuel cell systems are set to be used in heavy commercial vehicles for long-distance freight and passenger transport, as well as in similar applications.

To this end, more than 560 qualified employees are currently working at the German sites in Kirchheim/Teck-Nabern, Stuttgart-Untertürkheim and Esslingen, as well as in Burnaby, Canada. Around 700 registered intellectual property rights underline the company’s leading role in technological development. To this end, cellcentric can draw on the expertise and experience gained from more than 30 years of successful development work on fuel cell systems by its predecessor companies.

M&P transforms a warehouse into a high-tech manufacturing site

A key aspect of the planning was to transform the completed warehouse, which had minimal technical infrastructure, into a high-tech manufacturing site.

The following key planning features emerged from the requirements:

• Extension of the wastewater systems for production, including lifting stations, adaptation of the rainwater drainage system, retention systems for outdoor areas subject to the Water Resources Act (WHG) and contaminated wastewater, and condensate systems for technical installations, including the necessary planning applications
• Expansion of the drinking water supply (TWK) for production, the extended building services and additional taps
• Installation of a central ventilation system to air-condition the entire production hall with a capacity of over 100,000 m³/h, 30% of which features precision air conditioning and HEPA filtration for high air purity (cleanrooms to VDA 19-2, Class 9 cleanrooms to ISO 14644-1, airlocks), multifunctional energy recovery with exhaust air humidifiers for low energy consumption
• Planning of process exhaust air systems for production (KNV system for solvent-containing process air, H₂ dilution for fuel cell test benches, extraction systems with AK filtration and ATEX certification), preparation for the BImSchG approval procedure
• Expansion of the district heating supply to double the heating capacity to meet the additional demand from the ventilation zones, including a reduction in system temperatures
• Reconstruction of a cooling supply in the megawatt range with recooling and free process cooling during the transitional period to ensure low energy consumption
• Integration of an additional power supply (including MV/LV transformer) for production with a capacity in the megawatt range, installation of an emergency power supply system, a new main distribution board (LV) and power distribution via busbar systems
• Upgrading of the hall’s safety systems, installation of a monitoring system for H₂ applications and adaptation of the fire alarm system
• Installation of a new compressed air supply at approx. 10 barG with a storage system, Class 1-4-1 in accordance with ISO 8573 (high requirements)
• Installation of an H₂ supply at approx. 10 barG, connected to an outdoor tank facility provided by Linde
• Installation of an N₂ supply at 9/8/5 barG (rings PN16/10/6), connected to an outdoor tank facility containing liquid nitrogen and a state-of-the-art vaporiser system
• Installation of a deionised water treatment system (reverse osmosis), IR and activated carbon filters and distribution network (production, air humidification, recooling), including pressure boosting and dosing stations
• Conversion and extension of the existing sprinkler systems (FM Global) from warehouse to non-warehouse sprinkler systems (BGK 3), including network calculations and planning for regulatory approvals
• Reconstruction of the building automation system for all technical installations, development of individual control strategies, and establishment of a management/operating level (MBE) with integration of all key automation points (ASP)

In the making: sustainable production at the Esslingen site

In 2024, the state-of-the-art production hall was largely completed. Thanks to technological advances, production of the new generation of fuel cell systems, with an output of approximately 375 kW, is now getting under way at the Esslingen site. This successful collaboration also brings us added value: in August 2025, M&P was commissioned to take on the redesign of the building services for the production of the new NextGen fuel cell system.

This looks set to involve a great deal of development work and commitment from the M&P Group over the coming years. We are looking forward to it!

Images: © Daimler Truck AG