Collaboration to produce new hydrogen vehicle

13th November 2020

ULEMCo

Alex Lynn

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ULEMCo has worked with partners JCB and Bucher Municipal on an innovative route to replacing carbon based fuel with hydrogen vehicles. It has produced a new road sweeper for Aberdeen City Council that demonstrates the ability to use hydrogen fuel in both the primary engine and the auxiliary engine powering the ancillary equipment.

The project for Aberdeen has involved ULEMCo converting a Bucher Municipal (previously Johnston Sweepers) road sweeper to operate on dual fuel. It includes a route to incorporating 6.6kg of on board hydrogen storage capacity, more than four times that of previous trucks, and enables a second engine – provided by JCB – to power the sweeper’s brushes etc. using hydrogen fuel.

Finding cost effective solutions to decarbonising power take-off - such as with mobile equipment in construction and specialist vehicle applications - is important to delivering net zero carbon by 2050. As in this case, the approach will enable displacement rates of up to 40% of diesel fuel, and make a significant contribution to CO2 savings and reduced city pollution in real world applications.

This is the third hydrogen road sweeper that will be deployed in Aberdeen, facilitated by the Council in partnership between the two globally leading UK OEMs in JCB and Bucher and Liverpool based SME ULEMCo. The work builds on the previous project supported by OLEV and Innovate within the Low Emission Freight Trial.

“This project is a powerful example of how companies can work together to deliver solutions that are available now, to help mitigate climate change through the use of hydrogen,” said Amanda Lyne, Managing Director of ULEMCo. “It provides an immediate solution for significant carbon emission reduction in this type of heavy duty vehicle application that would be unaffordable or impractical with other low carbon technologies. We were really pleased to have the opportunity to work with both Bucher and JCB to deliver an improved product for ACC’s fleet team.”

“The significance of hydrogen fuel as an important alternative to carbon based fuels is increasingly clear,” added Daniel Jackson, OEM Engine Sales and Applications Manager at JCB Power Systems. “We are delighted to support this initiative which will make an immediate contribution to improving air quality in Glasgow.”

“Deploying dual fuel conversions in ‘back to base’ utility vehicle applications like this allows us to offer our customers around the globe an immediate and highly practical option to reducing their emissions,” said Graham Howlett, UK General Manager at Bucher Municipal.