Scottish utility fleet turns to hydrogen

First Hydrogen has announced that the Company's hydrogen-fuel-cell powered vehicle (FCEV) has been delivered to UK utility SSE, which operates one of the UK’s largest fleets. 

The FCEV will begin real-world trials at SSE's operational site at Aberdeen, Scotland and surrounding areas, which features some of the UK's best hydrogen infrastructure. This infrastructure will enable SSE to experience easy and fast refuelling within 5-7 minutes, showcasing a significant advantage of the Company's FCEV over battery electric vehicles (BEV), which typically take hours to recharge.

In recognition of the crucial role decarbonisation of transport plays in meeting net zero targets, SSE has already pledged to switch 2,500 of its vehicles to electric. Data will be collected from onboard instruments analysing fuel consumption, usage and efficiency. The information will calculate the Total Cost of Ownership, a key consideration for fleet operators when purchasing vehicles.

Accelerating the adoption of hydrogen transport

SSE is the first utility to trial First Hydrogen’s FCEV, coordinated through the Aggregated Hydrogen Freight Consortium (AHFC). The organization works with large UK fleet operators to accelerate the adoption of hydrogen transport through vehicle deployment and refuelling infrastructure development. The trials will see 16 major fleet operators interested in trialling First Hydrogen's vehicle, including grocery, utilities, parcel delivery and healthcare companies.

Ronnie Fleming, Chief Procurement Officer at SSE, says: "As part of our commitment to achieving net zero and in addition to our leading EV100 pledge, we are keen to explore all alternative fuels for our fleet. We're looking forward to seeing the vehicles in action, for our drivers to experience how they operate in practice and for our fleet managers to evaluate how hydrogen vehicles could fit into our future fleets."

Image: First Hydrogen