First Hydrogen Corp. announces that the Company's hydrogen-fuel-cell powered vehicle (FCEV) has been delivered to UK utility, SSE Plc (SSE). The FCEV will begin real-world trials at SSE's operational site at Aberdeen, Scotland and surrounding areas, which features some of the UK's best hydrogen infrastructure. This infrastructure will enable SSE to experience easy and fast refuelling within 5-7 minutes, showcasing a significant advantage of the Company's FCEV over battery electric vehicles (BEV), which typically take hours to recharge.
As the UK's largest low-carbon energy infrastructure company, SSE currently operates one of the largest vehicle fleets in the UK and, in recognition of the crucial role decarbonization of transport plays in meeting net zero, has already pledged to switch 2,500 of its vehicles to electric. Data will be collected from onboard instruments analyzing fuel consumption, usage and efficiency. The information will be used towards calculating the Total Cost of Ownership, a key consideration for fleet operators when purchasing vehicles.
SSE is the first utility to trial the Company's FCEV, coordinated through the Aggregated Hydrogen Freight Consortium (AHFC). The organization works with large UK fleet operators to accelerate the adoption of hydrogen transport through vehicle deployment and refuelling infrastructure development. The trials will see 16 major fleet operators who have expressed interest in trialling First Hydrogen's vehicle, including grocery, utilities, parcel delivery and healthcare companies.
Steve Gill, CEO Automotive at First Hydrogen says: "We're delighted to be working with energy giant SSE, which is already making great strides in switching to clean energy and decarbonizing its operations. Transitioning to fossil-fuel-free transport is a major step along the road to net zero and we are pleased to help SSE become the first utility company to explore hydrogen vehicle performance alongside other alternative fuels to power its maintenance and utilities vehicles. We're also thrilled to take our vehicle to Aberdeen, where so much work is already underway to champion hydrogen and know that the City Council sees this trial as an important test for promoting commercial FCEVs in the area too."
Ronnie Fleming, Chief Procurement Officer at SSE, says: "As part of our commitment to achieving net zero and in addition to our leading EV100 pledge, we are keen to explore all alternative fuels for our fleet. We're looking forward to seeing the vehicles in action, for our drivers to experience how they operate in practice and for our fleet managers to evaluate how hydrogen vehicles could fit into our future fleets."
