London Hydrogen Network Expansion project sets two new fuel cell electric vehicle records
The U.K. government-backed London Hydrogen Network Expansion project (LHNE) has broken two new distance records for hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs).
Working together, the partners of the LHNE project have broken the record for the longest journey in the U.K. on a single tank of hydrogen, travelling 645 km, and have also broken the longest continuous journey for an FCEV by travelling 9,811 km over the course of six days.
The records were broken in a Hyundai ix35 Fuel Cell car as part of the LHNE partners’ contribution to Hydrogen Week (March 11-18, 2016), designed to raise awareness of the benefits offered by FCEVs.
The group of companies that comprise the project, which is led by Air Products, completed 50 laps of the M25 motorway, plus mileage to and from one of the four publicly-accessible hydrogen refueling stations in the U.K. (funding is in place for at least 12 to be operational in England and Scotland within the next 12 months).
The LHNE consortium, co-funded by Innovate UK (the government’s innovation agency), comprises Air Products, Anglo American, Cenex, Commercial Group, Element Energy, the Greater London Authority, Heathrow Airport Ltd., Hyundai Motor UK Ltd., Johnson Matthey Fuel Cells Ltd., Revolve Technologies Ltd. and Shell.
The Tech-K.O. Takeaway: Canada is known around the world for its leadership on hydrogen fuel cell technology. It seems odd that we don’t have a similar awareness-building initiative or a consortium of infrastructure-focused innovators to promote growth and export in this important part of Canada’s clean-tech sector.
- Full story in Green Car Congress.
- Source: Hydrogen London. “Hydrogen London Network Expansion project sets two New FCEV records.” HydrogenLondon.org, 22 March 2016.
- Photo: British TV presenter and journalist Gareth Jones completes the record breaking Tour de M25 (Hydrogen London).