Government funding for hydrogen-powered fire engines and ambulances

The Government has awarded £3.9 million to a project aimed at developing hydrogen-powered vehicles for the emergency services and councils.

The ‘Hyer Power’ project will develop a hydrogen fuel cell range extender module that will integrate into electric vehicles used for specialist applications such as ambulances, fire engines and street sweepers.

UlemCo and partners are working with Oxfordshire County Council (OCC) on the project.

The £3.9m grant, which has been awarded through the Advanced Propulsion Centre Collaborative Research and Development programme, has been matched by industry to increase total funding to £7.9m.

Rob MacDougall, chief fire officer for Oxfordshire County Council’s fire and rescue service, said: “We are absolutely committed to act towards our net zero target and building on the work we have already done to move part of our fleet away from internal combustion engines.

“Heavy fire engines pose a particular challenge, and we feel that hydrogen powered fuel cells can play a promising role in delivering on the county’s climate action ambitions.”

OCC will provide the customer input, trialling and dissemination, and the work will lead to a manufacturing-ready, zero-emission hydrogen fuel cell-based range extension system for electric drivetrains.

Other partners in the project with UlemCo, includes Technical Services (UK) for cooling capability, Altair for vehicle energy system modelling, along with Emergency One for the fire engine solutions.

“We are delighted to see this recognition and commitment to developing hydrogen mobility as part of the solution to net zero”, said Amanda Lyne, managing director of UlemCo.

“Hydrogen is essential for viable zero-emission solutions in applications such as emergency response vehicles due to the rapid refuelling that enables the vehicle to be ‘fit-to-go’, and to provide the full flexibility and range required for the job.

“The packaging constraints and the overall energy demand needed for these vehicle drivetrains as well as the onboard equipment, mean that hydrogen solutions are the most cost-productive route to transition to zero-emission fleets.

“Our strong relationship with OCC will enable us to make rapid progress moving to production-ready hydrogen fuel cell designs.”

The zero-emission range extender used for Hyer Power will apply existing, proven fuel cell technology from the Toyota Mirai, and aims to demonstrate how zero emission vehicles can be used in a wide range of specialised and challenging settings.

Key outcomes of the project will include a production-ready zero-emission ambulance as a result from the work already completed by UlemCo under the Zerro project, alongside a fully working prototype fire pumping appliance and an HGV road sweeper.   

Councillor Pete Sudbury, Oxfordshire County Council’s cabinet member for climate change and environment, said: “Hydrogen could play an important role in our efforts to decarbonise, especially where battery powered electrification is challenging in heavy duty vehicles like fire engines.

“I’m delighted that we are partnering with UlemCo on this important step in exploring and advancing zero carbon solutions.”

UlemCo, which is based in Liverpool, was founded in 2014 to commercialise its capability in hydrogen technology to convert commercial vehicles, from LGV to HGV and specialist utility vehicles like refuse trucks, gritter and sweepers, to run on hydrogen.