Hydrogen refuelling station launches at Johnson Matthey Swindon

The new Swindon hydrogen refuelling station (HRS) is ITM Power’s seventh public access HRS and joins Cobham on the M25, Beaconsfield on the M40, Rainham in Kent on the A14, Teddington in London, Rotherham on the M1 and Kirkwall in Orkney.

 

Located at our Swindon site, which is home to our fuel cell component manufacturing facility, the new HRS lies just off the M4 linking South Wales with London. It is now open for public and private fleets operating fuel cell electric vehicles. The station uses electricity via a renewable energy contract and water to generate hydrogen on-site with no need for deliveries.

 

This HRS is the first of two stations in the UK to be deployed as part of the pan European H2ME2 project, which was funded by the European Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking and the Office of Low Emission Vehicles. A further station to be deployed by ITM Power under H2ME1 will be located at Gatwick Airport and will be opened before the end of this year.

 

More than 60 people gathered in Swindon today to hear speeches from stakeholders including JM's Chief Strategy Director, Matthew Harwood, who said: “There’s no doubt that hydrogen will be part of our energy mix going forward and we are delighted that ITM’s seventh refuelling station is located at our site in Swindon. JM has a great heritage in the development of fuel cell technologies, as well as in the catalysts and technologies for the large scale production of hydrogen. At JM we apply our science to making a cleaner, healthier world; our fuel cell technology, where hydrogen is converted electrochemically to clean power, is an important enabler in the journey to zero emission transport and pollution free roads.”

 

The opening was also supported by Toyota, Hyundai and Honda who also presented and participated in a Q&A session. Following this, the attendees were invited to take a test drive in a fuel cell electric vehicle on a short route nearby.

 

UK Government’s commitment to hydrogen vehicle roll out

The opening follows Prime Minister Theresa May's talk of the UK Government’s 'Road to Zero Strategy' at the ‘Zero Emission Vehicle Summit’ in Birmingham on 11^th September. The strategy includes funding of £1.5 billion for ultra-low-emission vehicles by 2020. At the summit, the Prime Minister also announced more than £100 million of funding for innovators in ultra-low-emission vehicles and hydrogen technology. The Road to Zero Strategy is the most comprehensive plan globally – mapping out in detail how the UK will reach its target for all new cars and vans to be, effectively, zero emission by 2040 – and for every car and van to be zero emission by 2050.

 

The opening of the HRS at our Swindon site is one step in the right direction towards making this strategy a reality.