Carbon Trust hands £1m to hydrogen fuel cell developers
21/02/2012
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Refuelling a hydrogen vehicle at ITM Power
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The Carbon Trust is sharing £1million between four pioneering fuel cell developers in the UK, in a bid to see their cutting edge technology under the bonnet of hydrogen-powered cars by 2017.
Two fuel cell companies - Runcorn based ACAL Energy and Sheffield’s ITM Power – will share £500,000 to develop a new hybrid high power, low cost fuel cell design.
Imperial College London and University College London will also benefit from £500,000 to develop fuel cells that deliver cost savings by using existing high-volume manufacturing techniques employed in the production of printed circuit boards.
The funding comes from the Carbon Trust’s Polymer Fuel Cells Challenge (PFCC), launched in 2009, that supports the Department of Energy and Climate Change’s (DECC) objectives to develop low cost fuel cells.
It also coincides with the recent launch of the UKH2Mobility programme by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) which aims to ensure the UK is well positioned for the commercial roll-out of hydrogen-powered vehicles.
Dr Ben Graziano, Technology Commercialisation Manager at the Carbon Trust, said: “The UK’s home-grown automotive industry hasn’t been the runaway success story many would have hoped for, but British technology is in pole position to be under the bonnet of a next generation of mass-produced hydrogen-powered cars.
“The funding that we have received from DECC has enabled us to support the development of some truly world-class British technologies that could slash the costs of fuel cells and transform how we all get about; by 2017 British fuel cell technologies could be powering your car.”
Hydrogen fuel cells are highly efficient, producing no emissions or pollutants at the tail-pipe and, compared to petrol and diesel engines, much reduced overall well-to-wheel emissions.
The government sees hydrogen-powered vehicles as one of the solutions to decarbonise road transport, and has committed about £400million to date to further the research and development, and eventual uptake of ultra-low emission vehicles.
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