Emission-Free Snowmobile Hysnow Honored With EL‑MO Award
Flagship project for the decarbonization of winter tourism: The Gunskirchner-based company BRP-Rotax, together with project partners, received the prestigious mobility award EL-MO for the development of the zero-emission snowmobile Lynx HySnow based on hydrogen. The award was presented by Federal Minister Leonore Gewessler and Secretary General of the Austrian Chamber of Commerce Karl-Heinz Kopf in Vienna on Monday as part of the Electromobility Congress.
Virtually silent, charged in three minutes and, above all, without pollutant emissions - these are the advantages of the Lynx HySnow, the concept snowmobile with a hydrogen fuel cell from BRP-Rotax. In February 2020, the Upper Austrian company presented the innovation to the public after four and a half years of research. As one of five winning projects, HySnow has now been awarded the EL‑MO Prize at the 12th Electromobility Congress EL-MOTION 2022 in Vienna. The award honors the most innovative Austrian projects in the field of e-mobility and CO2 reduction.
"Winning the renowned EL-MO Award is a great pleasure and special recognition for the entire project team. This award confirms our ambitious path of recent years and offers a wonderful stage for our sustainable and future-oriented drive solutions," says Wolfgang Rapberger, GM BRP-Rotax / Representative of the Management Board.
Holistic hydrogen ecosystem in Hinterstoder
The HySnow project was funded by the Climate and Energy Fund and the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG) as part of its "Lighthouses of E-Mobility" program and in cooperation with HyCentA Research GmbH, Fronius Austria, the Technical University of Graz, the ski region Hinterstoder and Wurzeralm as well as ElringKlinger AG and ECuSol GmbH.
The Lynx HySnow has been in real operation in the Hinterstoder ski area since 2021. The snowmobile from BRP-Rotax is embedded in a true hydrogen ecosystem: The central core of the project is the hydrogen production and fueling system, which was developed in cooperation with Fronius. It generates green hydrogen for the vehicle right next to the slope.
Foundation stone for future series production
“We have invested over four and a half intensive years in the research and development of this flagship project. As a technical masterpiece, the Lynx HySnow is an important milestone in our sustainable drive systems and clearly illustrates the crucial role hydrogen can play in decarbonising winter tourism,” says Nigel Foxhall. BSc (Hons), initiator of the HySnow project at BRP-Rotax, who accepted the award on behalf of all partners.
In order to help the sustainable energy carrier hydrogen to achieve a breakthrough, the next step is to work on industrialization options. In the future, these could enable cost-effective, series production of fuel cell-based vehicles and hydrogen storage media. Further research projects should support this project.
