According to the UK- and Canadian-headquartered company, this week its demonstrator vehicles, based on MAN eTGE vans, completed refuelling at 700bar at ITM’s/Motive Fuels’ site in Rainham, Essex, UK.
First Hydrogen has said the 700bar refuelling is a “key” performance parameter of the vehicles as it supplies enough hydrogen to see the vehicles offer a 400-600km range within a few minutes.
Having achieved UK road certification last month (October 2022), the demonstrators will undergo testing at the HORIBA MIRA Proving Ground and test track near Birmingham, ahead of delivery within the next month to commence fleet trials.
Read more: First Hydrogen’s fuel cell vans receive UK road certification
Steve Gill, CEO of First Hydrogen Automotive, said, “We are hugely proud to have reached this stage in the development of our first vehicles. The first fuelling is an incredibly exciting moment for us, which signifies a major step along the road to the wider production and launch of our First Hydrogen vehicles.
“We are eager to enter final testing and commence trials with operators early next year, which will help us to refine our end-to-end hydrogen-as-a-service solution and assess the commercial appetite for hydrogen vehicles as a way to achieve zero-emissions in the transport sector.”
Balraj Mann, CEO and Chairman of First Hydrogen, added, “We have already witnessed the car market in North America transition quickly to electric vehicles over the last four years. We are now seeing vans and commercial vehicles pursuing the zero-emissions transition. I believe green hydrogen will be the choice for commercial vehicles that require range and payload capabilities.”
H2 View’s Hydrogen Mobility Snap Summit – November 29
With the mobility pillar consistently a hot topic for hydrogen markets and arguably the most anticipated and relatable application of the energy transition, H2 View stages a Mobility Snap Summit this November to summarise the progress made in 2022 and look ahead to what’s still to come.
Infrastructure challenges remain. Questions linger over policy and implementation. Many wonder which strand of the transport sector will blaze the trail in hydrogen power first, and likewise which region. There are clear challenges ahead, yet considerable progress made in 2022 and bright spots ahead in 2023 and beyond.
Join H2 View this November for a half-day online event dedicated to unearthing the progress made, dissecting the challenges to be met and establishing the state-of-play across mobility as 2023 approaches. Find more information here.
Premium Subscribers to H2 View have access to this event as part of their subscription package; non-subscribers can secure access to the event with a delegate ticket ($99). All delegates can access the event on-demand from 1st December.