Norwegian police still aren’t offering any preliminary findings into their investigation of a major explosion at a hydrogen filling station just west of Oslo last week. The blast, meanwhile, has brought most of the hydrogen vehicle industry in Norway to a standstill.
“It tends to take a relatively long time when we need to write reports and draw conclusions,” Rune Skjold, head of economic and special investigations for the Oslo Police District, told news service TDN Direct. Police will also need to question those familiar with the technology used at the filling station as they probe what went wrong.
“This can easily take months,” Skjold said. “We don’t want to speculate now on any possible reasons for the explosion.”
Both Toyota and Hyundai have halted deliveries of hydrogen cars pending more information on Monday’s explosion in Sandvika. Toyota Norge was offering customers free use of loaner cars until the uncertainty around the hydrogen filling stations is resolved.
The explosion has also prompted public transport agency Ruter to take its hydrogen buses out of service and close its own hydrogen filling facility at Rosenholm. It uses different technology and suppliers than those used by the Uno-X chain where the explosion occurred, but hydrogen buses will temporarily stop running as a safety precaution.
All of the eight hydrogen filling stations in Denmark were also temporarily closed following the explosion in Sandvika, wrote industry magazine Ingeniøren.
newsinenglish.no staff
