A range of large vans and lorries is to be converted to run on dual-fuel hydrogen as part of the government’s recently announced £20m Low Emission Freight and Logistics Trial.
A consortium, led by hydrogen conversion firm Ulemco, has received £1.3m to demonstrate the emissions reduction and practical benefits to fleet operators of larger hydrogen-powered vehicles.
Collaborating with Liverpool-based Ulemco on the project are: Westminster City Council, Veolia, London Fire Brigade, Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust, Commercial, Aberdeen City Council and Ocado.
Aberdeen City Council has a plan to convert a wide range of fleet vehicles to dual-fuel hydrogen, such as refuse trucks, HGV road sweepers and delivery vans.
The Scottish council has already invested in two hydrogen refuelling stations, a fleet of 10 hydrogen fuel cell buses, electric Transit vans with fuel cell range extenders and a number of FCEV passenger cars.
Amanda Lyne, CEO of Ulemc, said: “We are delighted to receive another vote of confidence in hydrogen dual-fuel vehicles and their potential to deliver cleaner air for our towns and cities.
“There is good synergy with this project and the work we are leading to investigate adoption of mass market hydrogen commercial vehicles for China,” she added.
“In particular the diversity of application and partners in this project will really help to show how hydrogen dual-fuel can become a practical solution for a wide range of fleet operation.”
Freightinthecity.com can confirm that a total of 11 vehicles are to be deployed this year as part of the funded programme.
Ulemco already supports a fleet of 20 vehicles across a range of hydrogen hubs in the UK.
The company is targeting commercial fleet retrofits to boost the market over the next 18 months, and then expanding into other vehicle types longer term.
