HVS awarded £50k to accelerate hydrogen truck development

Hydrogen Vehicle Systems (HVS) has received £50,000 from Scottish Enterprise and Transport Scotland to support the development of hydrogen-powered HGVs.

The funding was awarded as part of “The Can Do Zero Emissions Heavy-Duty Vehicles (HDV) challenge” which was launched in July to help businesses develop innovative solutions to decarbonise transport and aid Scotland’s green recovery.

HVS will use the money to undertake a feasibility and development study into its rigid hydrogen-powered truck.

“This HVS study aims to facilitate the decarbonising of the road haulage sector with the introduction of hydrogen fuel cell trucks to uphold the environmental benefits observed from the Covid-19 lockdown and continue the country's drive towards net-zero. This HVS rigid hydrogen-powered truck will have performance parity with diesel regarding heavy payload, long-range and rapid refuelling,” explained HVS CEO Jawad Khursheed.

HVS previously secured £5 million of investment to springboard the development of its hydrogen truck. It plans to launch two vehicles in the next two years.

The HVS development team includes Steve Clayton, who oversaw the development of the LEVC electric van; Pete Clarke, who designed the Modec electric van; and Dr David Telford, who was the lead consultant for both the AECC Fuel Cell CHP and Electrolyser and the new Energy and Heating system for the SEC in Glasgow.