NAA Member News: ULEMCo Awarded Government Funding for Hydrogen Fuel Lorries Trial
ULEMCo, the company championing the use of ultra-low emission hydrogen fuelled vehicles, has been awarded Government funding to trial a range of vehicles with hydrogen dual-fuel technology…
The funding is worth over £1.3million, and will see large vans and trucks running on hydrogen dual-fuel. The overall aim of the £20million programme announced by the Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) recently, is to cut emissions and improve air quality through use of cleaner fuel and electric vehicles.
ULEMCo is one of a small number of firms that set out plans for innovative ways to deploy low and ultra-low emission vehicles. The freight industry accounts for about 30% of the UK’s CO2 transport emissions, and the money will help fleets get their new vehicles on the roads from mid 2017 onwards.
Collaborating with Lead Partner ULEMCo on the project are: Westminster City Council, Veolia, London Fire Brigade, Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust, Commercial and Ocado. Aberdeen City Council has a plan to convert a range of their vehicles to dual-fuel hydrogen: refuse trucks, HGV road sweepers and delivery vans. The project will demonstrate both the emission reduction potential of hydrogen replacing diesel, as well as the practical advantages of dual fuel operation.
Announcing the innovative project funding at the Sustainable Road Transport Conference in London, Transport Minister John Hayes said: “It is fantastic that ULEMCo is willing to explore low and zero emission technologies, which will help improve air quality and reduce pollution in towns and cities. This is yet another important significant step towards this government’s commitment to reduce carbon emissions from transport to help tackle climate change. We are already making headway through our investment in low emission vehicles, greener public transport and walking and cycling, as well as grants for innovative advanced biofuels projects.”
“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”, said Amanda Lyne, CEO of ULEMCo. “There is good synergy with this project and the work we are leading to investigate adoption of mass market hydrogen commercial vehicles for China. 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 operations.”
The latest funding from the Low Emission Freight and Logistics Trial Fund is being delivered by OLEV and Innovate UK, with the aim of demonstrating new technologies, and to encourage the widespread introduction of low and zero emission vehicles to UK fleets.
