Plans in the North East to trial the first 19-tonne rigid truck powered by hydrogen fuel cells is one of a group of projects awarded government funds to transform road transport.
The ‘road to hydrogen’ is a £412,000 demonstration project being carried out to test the HGV variant, as part of the Tees Valley hydrogen transport hub. Participants include battery firm Element Energy, the Transport Research Laboratory and Durham University.
Other projects awarded a total of £15m funding include an Exolum-led scheme to deploy a publicly-accessible green hydrogen refuelling station near Middlesborough serving around 25 HGVs and a partnership between a supermarket and HVS aimed at decarbonising its fleet by trialling a medium-duty, five-tonne commercial vehicle.
Earlier this year, Novuna Vehicle Solutions announced it was working alongside German manufacturer Quantron AG, to build, fund and manage the in-life maintenance of more than 20 fuel cell electric HGVs ranging from 4.2 to 27 tonnes deployed in the Tees Valley hydrogen transport hub project.
The Department for Transport said the funding would help successful bidders to lower carbon emissions on a wide range of transport, from delivery vehicles to buses.
