ULEMCo, the hydrogen fuel specialist, has been awarded government funding to produce an optimised design for hydrogen-fuelled vehicles, and will work with Oxfordshire County Council and its Fire & Rescue service to develop the technology
Dubbed HySPERT (Hydrogen Special Purpose Electric vehicle platform for Refuse and fire Trucks), the project is estimated to take eight months, with UK funding secured from Innovate UK under the Transition to Zero Emission programme.
The project's first stage will see ULEMCo and its partners develop an understanding of current emergency service vehicles' duty cycles, and ensure they secure enough on-board energy for four to 40 hours of continuous operation.
ULEMCo will design an optimised fuel cell electric powertrain for the fire service, with the output being a full specification design for a prototype.
Amanda Lyne, ULEMCo's managing director, said, “We are excited to be working on this important initiative to plan the future of specialised utility vehicles such as fire tenders, Hydrogen has tremendous potential for enabling zero emission vehicles in the short term.”
“Hydrogen could play an important role in our efforts to decarbonise, especially where battery powered electrification is challenging in heavy duty vehicles like fire engines. I’m delighted that we are partnering with ULEMCo on this innovative feasibility study as an important step in exploring and advancing zero carbon solutions.
"OCC’s Fire & Rescue Service will provide operational insight while the council’s unique Innovation Hub along with Climate Action team will work with ULEMCo to facilitate the project.”
