Fleet management software company FleetCheck in the UK has said that the adoption of hydrogen as vehicle fuel fell behind electricity.
The company further warned that there are had been minimal progress in facilitating the use of hydrogen as a net zero road transport fuel.
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FleetCheck managing director Peter Golding said: “The Government’s hydrogen strategy, released last year, stated that hydrogen would have a key role to play in road transport in the future but how that would develop was unclear. It’s difficult to know what is meant by that.
“Other European countries are seeing substantial action at an infrastructure level – with a new commitment to a tenfold increase in electrolyser manufacturing capacity by 2025 by the European Commission in partnership with private enterprise – but there is little comparable action here.
“What seems to be happening is that current strategies and funding in the UK are directed almost entirely towards vehicle electrification. Of course, the attention that is being given to the EV transition is laudable but hydrogen has an important or even crucial role to play and is simply being allowed to lag way too far behind.”
Hydrogen can be used as an alternative fuel for commercial vehicles above around three tonnes.
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By GlobalDataGolding added: “There are unresolved questions surrounding electrification in this part of the market including the massive batteries that would be needed to operate larger commercial vehicles and the impact on charging times and facilities, as well as much-reduced payload.
“Hydrogen has the potential to solve these problems and the first larger vans are now starting to enter production but the refuelling infrastructure to support them in the UK, especially in terms of green hydrogen, is almost non-existent. Unless you are a return-to-base fleet that installs its own refuelling facilities, the potential for adoption is very, very low.
“The fact is that a massively upgraded refuelling infrastructure, concentrating first on urban areas and motorways, is urgently needed. Even if we could work towards a hundred hydrogen stations over the next couple of years, that would be a major step forward.”
However, Peter added that he is looking forward JCB’s progress. Recently, the company decided to move ahead with its hydrogen strategy as electrification was not suitable for its own production vehicles.
