A UK-based clean technology firm has issued a call to action to significant industry figures to move forward with the development of fuel cell technology for next-generation transportation.
Viritech, a firm based at Warwickshire's MIRA technology park, raised the importance of the UK implementing clean hydrogen technology in road, air and marine transport vehicles to “reclaim a global engineering leadership position”.
The firm believes that 75,000 jobs can be created along with £18 billion in gross value added for the sector by 2035 and says hydrogen could be the next step for transport such as heavy goods vehicles (HGVs), reducing lithium use and vehicle weight. The company added that hydrogen technology plays to the UK’s strengths in automotive design and could address several of the industry’s unsolved issues.
Speaking exclusively to Autocar, Viritech co-founder Matt Faulks said: “The UK is in the unique position that we are doing really well on our green grid. We have a lot of investment into green technology apart from fuel cell technology and the balance of plans around the fuel cell and the elements you need to make one work such as storage systems.
“The problem is we’re rubbish at commercialising it from this point on because we don’t have the infrastructure around it in terms of the governmental support to really drive this forwards. We’re in quite grave danger of losing our position again like we did with lithium batteries.”
Faulks also highlighted the concern that the UK could fall behind in the global market for hydrogen, citing a shortage of government funding in the most vital areas for hydrogen development.
“You’ve only got to look at the government funding that’s been put in place for hydrogen and it’s minuscule. Almost none of it is for transport. We really are missing out compared to what other European countries are doing. We’re massively on the back foot and it should be a government target,” Faulks said.
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@xxxx, I not slighting, I respect others opinions, I just wondered if research would continue in the event we can't keep up with demand, and, if so, how would we solve it?, and what with?, would we go back to ICE Cars but with fully synthetic fuels for instance?, maybe in the future, the boffins will have cracked how to make Hydrogen more viable.
Just because someone has a different idea from you Peter don't put them down as a keyboard warrior. Especially as you don't understand the power needed to create hydrogen, you need at least 4 times the electricity to make enough hydrogen to complete the same distance compared to electricity needed to drive a BEV. Best understand the limitations of hydrogen cars before slating others.
Hydrogen cars just went pop
Tell me all you keyboard warriors, as EV Cars become more and more prevalent, where will the power come from to charge them?, and, will Eco free power ( wind power, Sea power) be the main sources?, or, willl we be going the Nuclear route?(tut tut, bad?), will there be enough power generated to supply in the future all things Electric?, and, should we, like we did with Oil, rely on said EV power sources?, and if yes, should further research to find another power source when we can't generate enough power?