UK Government invests £11m to boost hydrogen vehicle development
Fri 10 October 2014
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The Government has announced £11m funding to prepare the UK for the roll-out of hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs). The investment will help establish a network of 15 hydrogen filling stations and includes £2m funding for public sector hydrogen vehicles.
The Government says the move is part of its drive to become a global leader in ultra-low emission vehicles.
Of the £11 million, £7.5 million will come from Government and £3.5 million from industry:
£2 million of top-up funding to upgrade 6 to 8 existing hydrogen refuelling stations (already operational or under development in the UK) and take them from demonstrator projects to publically accessible sites
£3.5 million of funding to be matched by industry for 4 to 7 new hydrogen refuelling stations. This will include mobile stations as well as those on stand-alone sites and integrated into conventional petrol forecourts
£2 million of funding for public sector fleets to encourage deployment of around 40 hydrogen FCEVs in focused geographical clusters.
Business and Climate Change Minister Matthew Hancock said: "Britain has become one of the best places in the world to build cars, with the value of those we export outstripping imports for the first time in a generation, but we want to go further.
"Hydrogen cars present us with a huge economic opportunity and can bolster our internationally renowned automotive industry. We want to make the UK one of the best places in the world to design, manufacture and sell ultra-low emission vehicles.
The Transport Minister Baroness Kramer said: "By 2040 all new cars and vans will be ultra-low emission vehicles and this could be delivered by a variety of technologies, including plug-in hybrids, pure EVs and hydrogen. We want to ensure that support is there for all of these vehicles and that the UK continues to lead the pack in providing the right infrastructure to drive the switch to electric.
"The programme follows on from the work undertaken by the UKH2Mobility project - which brings together leading businesses from the automotive, energy, infrastructure and retail sectors with government - to provide a ‘roadmap’ for the introduction of fuel cell vehicles and hydrogen refuelling infrastructure in the UK.
Establishing 15 hydrogen refuelling stations by the end of 2015 will represent a significant first step towards the initial national network of 65 identified by UKH2Mobility."
The Government's announcement follows news revealed earlier in October that Toyota has chosen the UK as one of the first markets for its FCEV when it goes on sale in 2015. Toyota's iX35 FCEV will go on sale in Japan next April and will arrive in Europe and the US in summer 2015. The guide price for the car in Japan is about £42,000, although Toyota says the showroom price for Western markets has yet to be decided and will depend party on what, if any, government subsidies will be available for the FCV.
Autocar reports that Toyota's FCEV has two hydrogen fuel tanks and a range of about 440 miles.
The UK Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Association (UKHFCA) warmly welcomed the announcement. (See link)
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