The project takes a three-fold approach to the deployment of hydrogen transport in the Tees Valley: a demonstration of hydrogen fuel cell electric commercial vehicles, a development of an automated fleet analysis tool, and production of specific fleet deployment plans for zero-emission heavy vehicles.

Project partners Arcola Energy and Cenex bring a combination of hydrogen technology, vehicle engineering and fleet analysis experience. Arcola Energy brings a viable route to supply of heavy-duty FCEVs and Cenex aims to accelerate the adoption of this technology through support to fleet managers.

The project will demonstrate hydrogen zero-emission light commercial vehicles operating in local authority fleets. The vans will be operated in Council fleets, instrumented with remote logging devices and compared against current vehicles and pure battery electric vehicles already in fleets. The focus of the demonstration is the practical experience of hydrogen with proven technology and the comfort of staff with operation and refuelling, capturing feedback from the experience and comparison with BEVs.

Cenex will develop a fleet analysis tool specifically including the capabilities of hydrogen FCEVs that will help fleet customers identify appropriate use cases for hydrogen vehicles. The desk-based fleet analysis will be used as a basis for specific fleet deployment scenario planning for future deployments of vehicles in the region and the ambitions of the Hub.

Specifically the project will explore the potential for deployment of zero-emission hydrogen FCEV refuse collection vehicles (RCVs), a product which Arcola Energy is bringing to market in 2022, as well as the potential for other heavy vehicle classes. This is a key target vehicle for local authorities to reduce air quality impact of their fleets and support long term decarbonisation.