Aberdeen businesses are to be among the first in the UK to trial the use of hydrogen cars as the city council doubles its fleet of the vehicles.
The city is already the first in the Europe to have fuel cell electric vehicles in its car club fleet, and is now going a step further as it bids to boost the number of hydrogen-powered cars on Scotland’s roads.
Aberdeen City Council has purchased two more Hyundai ix35 hydrogen-powered cars, and is now offering organisations the opportunity to sign up for business trials.
Lead member for hydrogen, Councillor Barney Crockett, said: “Aberdeen City Council is determined to lead the clean energy revolution and our hydrogen achievements to date are the envy of local governments across Europe.
"Aberdeen is renowned as an energy city and for being keen to drive forward new energy technologies and work with countries across the world to secure its future as an energy leader.
“A key part of achieving the aims of our Hydrogen Strategy is increasing the number of fuel cell vehicles on the road, so creating a demand and supply chain for hydrogen technology.
Offering business trials to city firms will let them test the technology for themselves and experience first-hand just how reliable these vehicles are.”
The trial comes as the local authority takes forward its Hydrogen Strategy, which sets out the key actions required over the next decade to ensure Aberdeen remains at the forefront of hydrogen technology.
The strategy sets a vision for securing Aberdeen's place as a centre of excellence in hydrogen technologies and reinforcing the area's position as an energy city now and in the future. It focuses on promoting hydrogen technologies as a low carbon alternative to fossil fuels across several key objectives including:
- increasing vehicle deployments from a range of local stakeholders;
- building an accessible, convenient and safe refuelling infrastructure network;
- plans to secure a hydrogen economy in the city, encouraging greater uptake of hydrogen vehicles.
The Hyundai ix35 FCEV boasts similar levels of convenience and performance to conventional internal combustion cars. Its hydrogen capacity gives it a driving range of 525km (326 miles) on a single fuelling.
The vehicles, funded by Transport Scotland and Nestrans, convert the hydrogen into electricity to create the power to drive them. Unlike traditional cars, the hydrogen cars produce no harmful emissions, and in fact only produce water vapour at the tail pipe.
The Hyundais will be fuelled using locally-produced hydrogen.
Councillor Crockett added: “This is an early, but very significant step towards realising our aims and securing a hydrogen economy and the benefits it will bring – including jobs, training and investment opportunities, and, of course, cleaner air to Aberdeen.”
"With these cars, we are taking things to the next level, moving ever closer to becoming a world-leading renewables city and securing a hydrogen economy in Aberdeen, presenting tangible opportunities to the energy industry."
The use of hydrogen as a transport fuel offers great promise as a key component of a low carbon energy system. Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles emit no harmful emissions, are considerably more efficient than the fossil-fuelled equivalents and are virtually noise free.
As well as the benefits to the transport sector, hydrogen has a potentially vital role in the broader energy storage system – if it is generated from intermittent renewable electricity sources, such as wind turbines, it can be stored indefinitely and used for a variety of purposes including as a transport fuel, injection into the natural gas grid and used to generate electricity at times of peak demand.
Aberdeen's hydrogen projects and the further opportunities they bring will widen the city's capabilities in the energy sector and contribute towards its evolution into a true all-energy centre of excellence.
Organisations wishing to find out more about the business trials should contact Aberdeen City Council’s City Development Team by emailing H2Aberdeen@aberdeencity.gov.uk