Next growth step for Munich-based Clean Mobility start-up

KEYOU New hydrogen engine alliance: KEYOU starts strategic partnership with KST-Motorenversuch and establishes “H2 Development and Test Center” in Rhineland-Palatinate

München, 18. November 2020,

While the COVID 19 pandemic is causing considerable economic difficulties for companies in many places – especially in the automotive industry – KEYOU continues to grow successfully. After the Clean Mobility start-up recently relocated its corporate headquarters from rural Unterschleissheim to Munich, it is now establishing a new “H2 Development and Test Center” in Rhineland-Palatinate in the context of a strategic partnership with KST-Motorenversuch GmbH & Co. KG. For the Munich-based high-tech company, the partnership with the experienced test bench operator is another important milestone, especially after the recent funding and participation of the European Union in the company.
Rhineland-Palatinate is a strategically favorable location for the Munich-based hydrogen specialists. On the one hand due to the expertise of the new partner KST-Motorenversuch, on the other hand due to the support of politics. After all, Rhineland-Palatinate is considered one of the model states, when it comes to hydrogen. Only recently, Rhineland-Palatinate’s Minister of Economics and Deputy Prime Minister Dr. Volker Wissing announced at a press conference that, above all, the development of hydrogen engines for the commercial vehicle sector, which is strong in the state, is to be promoted. Prof. Dr. Gerhard Reiff, Chairman of the Board of Directors of KST, also shares the view of the Minister of Economic Affairs: “In my view, it makes more than sense to take the path to a CO2-neutral, green mobility future via the hydrogen engine, since we Europeans have an excellently functioning supply chain for combustion engines and series production for commercial vehicles can be realized in the short term.
The strategic partnership with KST, a company with a long tradition, offers KEYOU – in addition to the favorable political framework – the opportunity to meet the increasing number of customer inquiries from engine and vehicle manufacturers. The cooperation also offers both companies sufficient growth potential for the future. “The demand for hydrogen combustion engines has risen drastically in recent months, certainly also due to the increasing support from politicians. In the coming year, we even expect to double our number of projects. We are happy that with KST we now have a strong partner from the automotive industry on our side who builds and operates test benches for hydrogen engines and components for KEYOU. We are thus setting the course for future growth and at the same time can increase our test bench capacities already at short notice. We are convinced that both sides will benefit from this strategic cooperation in the long term,” says Thomas Korn, CEO and co-founder of KEYOU.
The “H2 Development and Test Center”, as the location in Bad Dürkheim is called, is the second pillar of the Clean Mobility Start-Up, in addition to the new offices in downtown Munich. While the majority of employees will remain at the headquarters in Munich, there is also a fixed number of KEYOU engineers in Bad Dürkheim who will be supported on site by experienced KST employees.
“We are very pleased to be able to offer KEYOU, the ‘hydrogen pioneer’, an innovative development and test platform on almost historic ground in automotive development history, and thus to be able to work together on the successful turnaround in mobility,” explains Prof. Dr. Gerhard Reiff, Chairman of the Management Board of KST-Motorenversuch GmbH & Co. KG.

About  KEYOU
KEYOU is a successful high-tech company operating in the field of clean mobility, which develops innovative hydrogen technologies, more specifically hydrogen components for engine and vehicle manufacturers. These technologies enable conventional engines to be transformed cost-effectively into emission-free hydrogen engines – without significant modifications to the base engine.
The new “green” combustion engine with KEYOU-inside technology means zero emissions, efficiency, and economy at the same time – without compromising on performance, capacity, or range. Vehicles with hydrogen engines are considered zero-emission vehicles according to EU standards. The technology is engine and manufacturer-independent, scalable, and can be used for both on- and off-road but ultimately for all applications that use a combustion engine. The current focus is on commercial vehicle engines.

About KST-Motorenversuch
For more than five decades KST-Motorenversuch has been supporting its national and international customers in the automotive sector as an independent development service provider and test facility operator. With about 200 highly qualified employees KST-Motorenversuch operates a modern and flexible test facility with 85 test benches for passenger car, commercial vehicle and large engines. For the development and testing of automotive drive trains for hybrid and electric drives, KST-Motorenversuch provides a specialized development test field with state-of-the-art measuring technology and develops innovative test procedures in this dynamic environment together with its customers. KST accompanies the dynamic process of change into the mobility of the future by targeted, timely developments and investments in the necessary validation procedures.
These serve to ensure the reliability of the new drive concepts such as hydrogen burners and fuel cells for onroad and offroad applications. As a medium-sized family-run company, our customers benefit from quick decisions, short distances and efficient service.

Puchheim near Munich, October 28, 2020 – National and regional alliances are highlighting the increasing significance of hydrogen as an alternative energy carrier to achieve climate targets and decarbonise our planet. For over 20 years technology pioneer “Proton Motor Fuel Cell GmbH“ (www.proton-motor.de) has successfully dedicating itself to the development and production of hydrogen fuel cells for stationary and mobile applications. In the area of automotive applications, the commissioning of “E-Trucks Europe” to equip refuse collection vehicles with the HyRange© solution to increase range was announced this year. In order to expand sales activities, the cooperation with ”KST-Motorenversuch GmbH & Co. KG“ (www.kst-motorenversuch.de) is now contractually agreed.

The collaboration between the engineers from Puchheim and Bad Dürkheim is essentially based on the joint establishment of test procedures and test facilities for the development of hydrogen fuel cell systems. KST contributes its more than 50 years of experience as a development service provider and test facility operator for the automotive industry. In the first step, a KST test bench will be specially converted for hydrogen operation, on which a Proton Motor system is tested as a pilot. The aim of the cooperation is to create a long-term partnership. Both sides have agreed to the continuous qualification of students for training within the fuel cell high-tech sector as a cross-generational task for the future.

About Proton Motor Fuel Cell GmbH (www.proton-motor.de)

With more than 20 year of experience, the internationally active Proton Motor Fuel Cell GmbH is Germany’s expert for energy solutions with cleantech technologies and a specialist in fuel cells in this field. Located in Puchheim near Munich, Proton Motor, offers complete fuel cell and fuel cell hybrid systems from its own production – from development to production to the implementation of customer-specific solutions. Proton Motor focuses on stationary applications such as back-up power and energy storage solutions, as well as mobile solutions such as back-to-base applications. The solutions can also be applied in the maritime and rail sectors. The product portfolio includes basic fuel cell systems, standard complete systems and customised systems. The official commissioning of the new fuel cell stack machine to start the series production took place in September 2019.

Proton Motor is active in the stationary sector for customers in the IT, telecommunications, public infrastructure and healthcare sectors in Germany, Europe and the Middle East with power supply solutions for DC and AC demand. In addition to power supply, SPower product range also offers solutions for solar systems and a new product line for the storage of solar energy. Proton Motor Fuel Cell GmbH, with currently 90 employees under the management of Dr. Faiz Nahab is a wholly-owned subsidiary of “Proton Motor Power Systems plc” (www.protonpowersystems.com) with headquarters in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. The company has been listed on the London Stock Exchange since October 2006 (Tickersymbol: „PPS“ / WKN: A0LC22 /  ISIN: GB00B140Y116).

Point of contact Proton Motor Fuel Cell GmbH, Benzstrasse 7, D-82178 Puchheim, www.proton-motor.de:

Leonie Würzner / Marketing Manager                          Ariane Günther / Head of Public Relations

l.wuerzner@proton-motor.de                                           a.guenther@proton-motor.de

+49 / (0)89 / 127 62 65-61                                                 +49 / (0)89 / 127 62 65-96

About KST-Motorenversuch GmbH & Co. KG (www.kst-motorenversuch.de)

Founded in 1967 and based in Bad Dürkheim/Germany KST-Motorenversuch is a test field operator in the automotive sector and actively engaged in providing independent development services for more than 5 decades now. With around 200 highly qualified specialists KST-Motorenversuch operates a modern test field with a total of 85 test benches for passenger cars, commercial vehicles and large bore engines. For the development of vehicle powertrains for hybrid- and electrical drives KST-Motorenversuch disposes of a specialized development test field with state-of-the-art measuring equipment. In this dynamic environment KST is developing innovative test procedures together with its national and international customers. KST accompanies the dynamic change processes of future mobility solutions by prompt and targeted developments and investments in necessary validation procedures. These serve to ensure the reliability of the new drive concepts as for example hydrogen-fuel cells for automotive applications. As a familiy-run company our customers profit from quick decisions, short distances and efficient provision of services.

Point of contact KST-Motorenversuch GmbH & Co. KG, Bruchstrasse 24-38, D-67098 Bad Dürkheim, www.kst-motorenversuch.de:

Roland Prinz / Head of Sales                                            Christine Skribanek / Sales

Roland.prinz@kst-motorenversuch.de                        christine.skribanek@kst-motorenversuch.de

+49 / (0)6322 / 799-192                                                    +49 / (0)6322 / 799-378