In an effort to diversify the range of low emission vehicles available, an £11 million investment has been announced by the Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) towards the development of a hydrogen fuel infrastructure in the UK.
The investment will see the UK’s hydrogen infrastructure grow to up to 15 refuelling stations nationwide, and is part of government’s drive to make the UK a global leader in ultra-low emission vehicles.
Joint-funded by government and industry, the project will allocate funds as follows:
– £7 million – install and run up to seven new customer-facing hydrogen refuelling stations.
– £2 million – upgrade existing hydrogen refuelling stations.
– £2 million – acquisition of around 40 hydrogen-fuelled vehicles for the public sector.
The announcement was made by Minister of State for Business and Enterprise, Matthew Hancock MP, while visiting Honda, Nissan and Toyota in Japan.
OLEV’s investment in the hydrogen fuel infrastructure is part of a wider £500 government funding pot, which will be invested between 2015 and 2020, in the UK’s drive to become a global leader in the development and take-up of low emission vehicles.
The program 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 refueling infrastructure in the UK.
Establishing 15 hydrogen refueling stations by the end of 2015 will represent a significant first step towards the initial national network of 65 identified by UKH2Mobility.
