The government will have to change the law to enable hydrogen powered vehicles to operate on UK roads, according to Revolve Technologies which has been developing the technology.
The company reckons that existing legislation fails to cover the different requirements of hydrogen and, through its specific listing of conventional fuels, blocks the use of new fuel types.
Revolve has produced three Ford Transit vans powered by hydrogen as part of an initiative started by Cenex, the agency established with support from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills to promote UK market development and competitiveness in low carbon and fuel cell technologies for transport applications.
Two of these are expected to enter trial service with the Post Office before long.
Paul Turner, Revolve’s technical director, said: “We didn’t realise when we began the hydrogen programme that we were pioneering not just a new technology but new legislation too. We have worked closely with a number of government departments to identify key issues and help them to develop a new series of regulations which can accommodate the safe storage, handling, dispensing and use of this exciting new carbon free fuel.”
