Final testing of hydrogen vans before fleet deployment

First Hydrogen is putting its zero-emission light commercial vehicles (LCVs) through final testing before deploying the fuel cell vans to fleet customers by the end of March. 

Based on the vehicle weight, battery size and powertrain energy consumption, First Hydrogen’s two demonstrator vehicles have an expected range of 400-600km (250-370 miles) on a single refuelling, which takes less than 5 minutes.

Conducted with powertrain specialists AVL, the tests will put the vehicles through a range of real-world duty cycles, including urban, rural and highways routes. 

Stephen Pendrey, chief engineer for First Hydrogen Automotive, said: “These tests are an important part of our vehicle development and help us to ensure the vehicle is performing as efficiently as possible and in line with expectations.

“The data enables us to factor in vehicle weight and payload to calculate the amount of energy used for propulsion."

He continued: “The results provide verifiable data on expected range per kilogramme of hydrogen used. This information shows commercial vehicle owners and fleet managers the output they can expect in specific conditions and illustrates the financial benefits of switching to a FCEV.” 

Data collected from the two hydrogen fuel cell-powered vehicles using onboard instrumentation will allow First Hydrogen to accurately determine fuel consumption and vehicle range in different driving scenarios.

Tests will take place until mid-March and data analysis will follow. Initial resu;lts are expected within a couple of weeks.

The tests will be completed before First Hydrogen deploys its two vans for trials with fleets as part of a programme with the Aggregated Hydrogen Freight Consortium (AFHC). These operational trials start from 20 March.