Air Products has submitted evidence to the House of Commons Transport Select Committee inquiry into low carbon vehicles, calling on the Government to work with industry to create a market for renewable hydrogen.

Air Products, one of the world’s largest hydrogen manufacturers and a market leader in hydrogen fuelling stations, explained in its written evidence that current subsidies like the plug-in grant do not do enough to build up the essential infrastructure needed to support a low carbon transport system.

Diana Raine explained: “There are numerous Government schemes that subsidise electric vehicles, renewable electricity production, and other potentially low carbon fuels like biofuels. But there has been little take-up because the public is never going to buy cars that take six hours to fuel and can then only travel 50 miles.

“By contrast, hydrogen cars can travel 500 miles on one tank and fill up in three minutes. They will be ready for consumers by 2015 yet the Government is failing to support the production of renewable hydrogen and the creation of a hydrogen transport infrastructure that will be essential if we expect members of the public to invest in a hydrogen car.”

Air Products called on the Government to:

• Work with industry to create a market for hydrogen used in transport.
• In the short to medium term the Government could do this by incentivising the use of hydrogen in transport within the Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation (a scheme that currently subsidises biofuels).
• In the longer term the Government should support the production of renewable hydrogen, but should be talking to industry now about how this can be done.
 

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