A Yorkshire ambulance will run on hydrogen, with a fuel cell range extender boosting its battery-powered electric drive to 300 miles per trip. This matters because current electric ambulances cannot cover long shifts or high-speed motorway responses without stopping to recharge—a critical gap for emergency services. The £2.44m project, led by ULEMCo, takes a feasibility study to a working prototype certified under European ambulance standards. The team must solve a weight problem: the box body and equipment currently weigh 1350 kg, but the vehicle’s gross weight limit allows only 800 kg of payload. Lightweighting, modified base vehicle design, and innovative power electronics aim to close that gap. If successful, the prototype will be field-tested around Sheffield using publicly available hydrogen stations. The same fuel cell range-extender kit could then be adapted for Ocado’s refrigerated delivery vans and other vehicles over 5 tonnes. This is not fundamental science—it is applied engineering to decarbonise a fleet that cannot afford downtime.
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This £2.44m 2.5-year project, led by ULEMCo, will deliver an operational prototype zero emission ambulance, for Yorkshire Ambulance Service (YAS) based on taking the current TRL3 level feasibility study for use of a fuel cell range extension (FC Rx) power module on a OEM EV, along with light-weighting, base vehicle modifications and innovative power electronics to a TRL5 level demonstration vehicle, that will also be applicable to additional customer partner, Ocado for their refrigerated vans. The demonstration prototype will be certified for use under CEN1789 so that it can be field tested around the Sheffield area, where the hydrogen will be sourced at publicly available stations. ULEMCo with their sub-contractor Revolve Technologies (RT) will develop and integrate a FC Rx power module and hydrogen system kit, to be fitted onto the modified base EV; Lyra Electronics (LE) will apply innovative solutions for DC/DC conversion and power solutions for the on-board equipment; Ocado will share learning on light-weighting such that YAS can procure appropriate changes from their box supplier; all partners targeting the demonstration of a ZEV that has a range of up to 300 miles, top speed over 70 mph; with GVW that allows for 800 kg payload and a box body fitted with the appropriate equipment (currently 1350kg), within the constraints of the cargo dimensions. The key objectives alongside the specific opportunity for a world first in a hydrogen FCEV of this size (>5 tonnes van) will be the application of innovative approaches to deliver the weight, vehicle performance and range requirements of the two applications and the creation of a stand-alone FC Rx module and system control kit, which can be applied to other similar vehicle applications. In phase 1 all the partners will focus on the innovation needed at a system level to deliver weight reduction, modifications of the base vehicle, optimisation of the fuel cell characteristics and incorporation of the onboard equipment electronics to deliver the speed and range targets of the application. Having developed the detailed engineering design and build programme for the vehicle and the body, it then moves on to a physical build phase involving procurement, build, integration and test of the FC module with the vehicle, in parallel to the work to build the body and transfer learning of such to Ocado's box supplier. The final phase includes completion of single vehicle type approval, and ambulance certification with testing by YAS.
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