Completed Clean Energy Engineering

HyTIME - Hydrogen Truck Implementation for Maximum Emission reductions

Funder InnovateUK (part of UKRI)
Recipient organisation Ulemco LTD
Funding £1.3M
Period Mar 2017 — Jun 2019

In plain English

AI plain-English summary

A fleet of fire engines, ambulances, refuse trucks, and delivery vans across the UK will run on a mix of hydrogen and diesel to prove that the technology can cut carbon emissions by 40 to 70 percent from the tailpipe. The problem is that heavy vehicles—fire trucks, ambulances, bin lorries, and delivery vans—are hard to decarbonise. Battery electric versions remain expensive, heavy, and slow to recharge for these demanding duty cycles. Hydrogen dual-fuel technology offers a cheaper, faster retrofit option that keeps existing vehicles on the road while reducing their climate impact. If the trials succeed, the project will provide real-world evidence that fleet operators can switch to hydrogen without buying new vehicles or waiting for a nationwide hydrogen refuelling network. The partners include the London Fire Brigade, Ocado, Veolia, and the Yorkshire Ambulance Service, so the results will cover emergency services, retail logistics, and municipal waste collection. The project also measures well-to-wheel emissions, which range from 5 to 60 percent reduction depending on how the hydrogen is produced, giving operators a clearer picture of total environmental benefit.

View original technical description
This 24-month project will trial a range of vehicles and associated duty cycles with hydrogen dual-fuel technology (H2ICED®), in order to provide evidence of the carbon reduction and air quality improvement of this world leading unique approach. The project is led by ULEMCo, the technology provider in partnership with vehicle operators The London Fire Brigade (LFB), Wiles Greenworld (WG), Aberdeen City Council (ACC), Westminster City Council (WCC), Veolia, Ocado & the Yorkshire Ambulance Service (YAS) that will provide the vehicles, the fleet operations experience and their fleet management systems to support data gathering. The project provides value for money by incorporating a range of vehicles, duties and operators who will all get hands on experience of the benefits of the dual fuel technology including LFB(2 vans), WG(2 vans), ACC(2 RCV & 1 road sweeper), Ocado(1 chassis cab) and YAS(1 patient transport ambulance), that will largely make use of the existing hydrogen refuelling stations (HRS), with a temporary facility being installed for WCC. It aims to show between 40-70% reduction in tailpipe C02e is possible by displacing diesel, alongside improving real world air quality relative to the MY16 standards, & WtW of 5%-60% depending on the source of H2.

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Original classification

Collaborative R&D

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