Delegates to this year’s Motor Transport Decarbonisation Summit, sponsored by bp, Optimize and Scania, had the opportunity to join a study tour at the Tyseley Energy Park on the day before the main Summit to get under the skin of some of the latest industry developments.

BEIC study tour visit small

Energy innovation centre study tour

 

The Study Tour was a new feature added to this year’s Decarbonisation Summit, giving delegates exclusive access to some of the latest developments at the 16-acre Tyseley Energy Park. The site features a low and zero carbon refuelling facility and is also home to the Birmingham Energy Innovation Centre (BEIC), a Birmingham University research and development workshop and laboratory. 

The half-day tour gave delegates an exclusive view of the some of the latest project including an early look at a new battery electric truck re-charging site from SSE Solutions. The new public chargers will be operational in early 2024 and will feature 360kW chargers, as well as, driver rest facilities. Elsewhere in the Tyseley refuelling area there is a facility for hydrogen and HVO refuelling, while visitors also heard details of a new development which will produce hydrogen from ammonia due to be operational next year.

At the BEIC, adjacent to the refuelling site, delegates were given detailed classroom explainer sessions on the workings of a hydrogen fuel cell, the latest battery developments and the applications of AI to the logistics sector. Special thanks to our “lecturers” Brendan Bilton (Element 2), Michael Boxwell (Voltempo) and Ross Conroy (Optimize) for their insights and the permission to share their presentations (see below). The centre is also home to a number of technical research projects and in a short guided tour of the facility representatives from Birmingham University took the study groups through a range of low and zero carbon research projects covering hydrogen fuel cells, lithium ion battery recycling, the recycling and reuse of rare earth permanent magnets and a hydrogen microcab vehicle project. 

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Andy Salter has spent most of his 30-year working life in and around the commercial vehicle and road freight sector building up a depth of knowledge and expertise. A former editor of TRUCK and Commercial Motor magazines, Andy is a previous Chair of the International Truck of the Year jury and is now managing director of DVV Media International the owner of Freight Carbon Zero. He is passionate about helping the industry prepare for a carbon zero future.View full Profile

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