A consortium is building a 5-megawatt green hydrogen electrolyser and a public refuelling station in the Tees Valley to supply 22 trucks and 6 vans with zero-emission fuel. This matters because hydrogen fuel cell vehicles have struggled to gain a foothold in the UK due to a classic chicken-and-egg problem: vehicle operators will not buy hydrogen trucks without reliable refuelling stations, and fuel suppliers will not build stations without enough vehicles to use them. The HYVE project breaks this deadlock by aggregating multiple vehicle operators and manufacturers together, giving hydrogen suppliers the confidence to invest in large-scale infrastructure. If successful, the project will demonstrate a replicable strategy for other UK cities to kick-start their own hydrogen mobility ecosystems. The consortium aims to replicate this model across 10 major UK cities, creating the country's first basic national network of hydrogen refuelling stations. This would directly affect the logistics and haulage sectors—industries that quietly keep supply chains running—by offering a practical, zero-emission alternative to diesel trucks without the range limitations of battery-electric vehicles.
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The Hydrogen Vehicle Ecosystem (HYVE) project is accelerating the UK's transition away from fossil fuels and towards zero-emission fuel cell vehicles. The HYVE consortium is building a large, multi-vehicle-type hydrogen mobility hub in the Tees Valley: a network of hydrogen stations and fuel cell vehicles in daily operations with many vehicle operators. The HYVE Darlington project will build a 5MW green hydrogen electrolyser at Exolum's Riverside Fuels Terminal in Stockton-on-Tees and a public hydrogen refuelling station at Phillips 66's Newton Park Service Station. The station will supply green hydrogen to 22 hydrogen trucks and 6 vans and will be used by 5 large operators in a diverse set of applications. The project partners include: * Phillips 66 & Exolum - Hydrogen supply * Tevva - Truck supply * Electra Commercial Vehicles - Truck supply * Quantron - Truck and van supply * Teesside University - Data monitoring & analytics partner * Element Energy - Project Coordinator The project will catalyse hydrogen vehicle deployment within the Tees Valley and demonstrate a replicable strategy for other cities to kick-start hydrogen mobility ecosystems. Aggregating vehicle suppliers and customers to give hydrogen suppliers confidence to invest in large-scale, high-reliability hydrogen refuelling infrastructure will solve the 'chicken and egg' barrier that has limited UK fuel cell vehicle deployment to date. The consortium's vision is to replicate this project across 10 major UK cities to create the UK's first network of hydrogen refuelling stations providing basic national coverage. This project builds on the work done in the Tees Valley's phase one deployment which demonstrated the potential of a multimodal hydrogen mobility ecosystem by deploying 1 truck, 10 cars, 2 buses and 1 forklift.
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