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BIS-Funded Programmes
This 36-month project addresses the challenge of dramatically reducing carbon and air quality emissions in heavy goods vehicles (HGV). The market opportunity is to address this critical global energy and environmental requirement to reduce emissions, by delivering practical, cost effective solutions for truck and fleet operators, as the costs of vehicle ownership are acutely important for business operation success in this sector. Low emissions technological solutions for commercial vehicles proposed to date, either add significant cost to the vehicle or require extensive change to the duty cycle and patterns of use. Tata Motors European Technical Centre through this project seeks to build on its capabilities and that of the project partners including Revolve, ULEMCo, Johnson Matthey and University of Brighton, to develop a viable ZERO emission engine platform. The outcome of this highly innovative approach would develop the Zero Emissions Tata hydrogen Engine (ZETE) enabling Tata Motors to compete across a wider range of HGV platforms, and ensure that their UK developed technology stays ahead of regulatory standards, providing a world beating commercial proposition that is not only relevant for the UK market but also globally significant. Tata Motors is a $45 billion organisation. It is a leading global automobile manufacturing company. Its diverse portfolio includes an extensive range of cars, sports utility vehicles, trucks, buses and defence vehicles. Tata Motors is the Indian market leader in commercial vehicles and top three in passenger vehicles, the world's fourth largest truck manufacturer and the second largest bus manufacturer. Tata Motors, who also own Jaguar and Land Rover has around 81,000 employees around the world. TMETC, based in NAIC, University of Warwick, is a critical part of the Tata Motors Research & Development footprint leading advanced Powertrain innovation across both commercial and passenger vehicles. The Tier1 partner in the project, Johnson Matthey (JM) is a £7 billion organisation. Specialising in chemicals, catalysts, pharmaceutical materials, and pollution control systems and exploiting previous publicly-funded R&D, Johnson Matthey will utilise their hydrogen selective-catalytic reduction (SCR) technology to ensure any small amounts of NOx produced by the 100% hydrogen thermal engine will be converted in the after-treatment system to produce a real world ZERO emission. The OEMs/Tier 1 are supported by SME technology innovators and Hydrogen experts, Revolve and ULEMCo with additional research supported by the University of Brighton (UoB), who are the internal combustion engine thermal efficiency spoke of the Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC)
1,801,462
2025-11-10 to 2027-11-10
Innovation Loans
The project builds upon the innovations developed under the Tees Valley Hydrogen Transport Hub (TVHTH) and IDP15 R&D projects where ULEMCo successfully trialled a number of pieces of airport ground support equipment (GSE) and specialist vehicles using innovative hybrid control and patented hydrogen safety systems with UK manufactured electric drive components, hydrogen internal combustion engines (H2ICE) and fuel cell (FC) technologies, as a fully functioning repowering solution. The project takes learning from the current demonstration vehicles, which use a bespoke first of a kind vehicle level control systems developed in house by ULEMCo, and moves from prototype currently at TRL 5-7, through to MRL Production Implementation 7-9, by including additional power options that will deliver wider power range, alongside completing regulatory and durability testing, standardisation of designs and development of the repowering manufacturing process, so that fully warranted and viable repowering solutions can be offered to customers, into airports, logistics centres and port applications. Targeting back-to-base applications, at hub locations like these allows for the cost-effective (<£10/kg) supply of hydrogen fuel that is competitive to diesel, and so unlock the overall opportunity for early-stage decarbonisation of these important transport infrastructure facilities. The highly-novel, modular repowering product solutions and service developed in the project when combined with the appropriate inverters, batteries and onboard hydrogen storage will then suit most of the types of equipment used in the target applications. This innovative repowering service, for the machines that typically have a high value of additionality and a long remaining service life, make it both affordable and more achievable to transition to Net-Zero, than replacing from new, with the added benefit that comes with saving the embedded carbon in existing machines.
1,175,804
2023-09-01 to 2025-03-31
Collaborative R&D
This £3.37M, 22month project, led by ULEMCo with Teesside International Airport (TIAL), Motive Fuels, Newcastle University, and additional demonstration at RAF-Leeming, will deliver capability and learning for the application of hydrogen to decarbonise Airport operations. It builds upon the successful Phase-1 programme and based on the learning and awareness-raising of that initiative, targets upcycling airside specialist-vehicles and handling-equipment to zero-emission, to support the aviation sector's net-zero requirements. Alongside this will be the installation of 2 publicly-accessible hydrogen refuelling stations (HRS) located at the airports, with capability for 1000kg of delivered green hydrogen to TIAL dispensed at 350 bar that will match typical airside refuelling operations, and redeployment of Motive's 80kg/day electrolyser with dispensing at 350 and 700 bar to build understanding of future role for onsite-generation within the Airport-Hub model, at RAF-Leeming. It supports ULEMCo's goal to productionise their highly-novel, Phase-1 prototype HYICE-E drivetrain for airside applications, by extending the fleet of MAT Tow-Tugs at both TIAL and RAF-L, and applying the same and larger formats (50KW and 110KW H2ICE engines) to a range of airside vehicles, with the aim of creating a fleetwide conversion centre in the Teesside Region. It will inform TIAL's objective of reaching net-zero and consolidate their position at the heart of the THTH, building on the significant achievement in Phase-1 of gaining approval from both the Civil-Aviation-Authority and the RAF for use of hydrogen vehicles, airside. The installation of the appropriately-sized H2 infrastructure will not only allow vehicles being funded in this project, and a number of hydrogen dual-fuel vehicles developed outside this project, but also ensures access at this strategic location for the wider public with vehicles deployed in other Teesside-hub projects. Demonstrating the Hydrogen-Airport-Hub model which will ultimately allow for application airside/roadside, and aircraft refuelling within civil/defence operations UK wide. Newcastle University's Future Mobility Group will capture and analyse the data generated, assessing the extent of tailpipe emissions reduction within the airport models across the country, evaluating the use of the HRS, measuring use behaviour and acceptance, as well as working with ULEMCo and Motive to disseminate the results to the Tees-Valley-Hydrogen-Transport-Hub and beyond. Further additionality is created for the UK, by having RAF-L assess hydrogen-fuel and propulsion technologies across its operations, as part of its Project ViTAL, a collaboration between the RAF Experimental Centre(RAFX), NU and industry to undertake analysis of emerging clean energy technologies for the RAF and the wider military.
1,288,624
2023-05-01 to 2026-10-31
BEIS-Funded Programmes
This 3.5 year project which is a collaboration led by ULEMCo Ltd, the specialist hydrogen commercial vehicle company, with partners Technical Services (UK) Ltd for cooling capability, Altair Ltd for vehicle energy system modelling, along with Emergency One for the Fire-Engine solutions and Oxfordshire County Council for the customer input, trialling and dissemination, will develop and test to a full manufacturing-readiness level, a zero-emission hydrogen fuel cell based range extension system for electric drivetrains, which is applied to a series of "world-first" special purpose EV vehicle solutions, namely an Ambulance, a Fire-Engine and an HGV Road-Sweeper. Taking the learning from the prototyped and tested ZERRO Ambulance, displayed at COP26, it creates a tool-kit and "plug & play" set of component modules, utilising the mass-produced Toyota Gen2 fuel cell power-pack and demonstrates its flexibility, accelerated design process, performance and utility to extend range for these applications. Hydrogen is essential for viable zero-emission solutions in these applications, particularly emergency response because of the fast and immediate refuelling that enables the vehicle to be "fit-to-go" and have the full flexibility of range required for the job. Due to packaging constraints and the overall energy demand needed for not only the vehicle drivetrains as well as the onboard equipment, unlike battery only EV, hydrogen solutions are the most cost-productive route to transition to zero-emission fleets. The conventional OEMs are not focussed on developing zero-emission solutions for these applications in the timescales that meet the UK's Net-Zero targets. This project, which enables both supply chain growth in the project partners and the UK specialist vehicle manufacturers, is therefore strategically important in delivering the UK's obligations for GHG reduction by 2050, and it's corresponding clean growth opportunity.
163,907
2021-09-01 to 2022-03-31
Collaborative R&D
The 'Hydrogen in an Integrated Maritime Energy Transition' (HIMET) project will demonstrate maritime decarbonisation enabling technologies, encompassing the design, development, and demonstration of four solutions: 1.Hydrogen systems and future micro-grid architectures for resilient shore-side power, including testing of a hybrid hydrogen/solar system and deployment of this hybrid system on Orkney; 2.Combustion of hydrogen in a marine propulsion engine, through testing at a dedicated hydrogen test facility in the north east of England; 3.Demonstration of a marinised hydrogen storage container, for the application on board a vessel; and 4. Hydrogen fuel cell demonstration, showing the potential of the technology to safely supply auxiliary power for a vessel. This ambitious programme of activities will focus on the decarbonisation of two key maritime sectors in Orkney: ferry service and cruise terminal operations. These first-of-a-kind demonstrations will build the evidence base needed to enable broader maritime decarbonisation using hydrogen technologies. Although our activities focus on addressing challenges seen in the Orkney context, our findings will be applicable to all island and coastal environments where vessels provide vital lifeline services. After project demonstration activities are complete, HIMET partners will pursue opportunities to develop applications for type approval of the systems demonstrated, in order to facilitate uptake across the UK, and beyond. This will create market opportunities for the integrated HIMET team of UK technology developers and maritime engineering experts. In parallel, we will also carry out research and stakeholder engagement activities to establish how these deployments can best inform the broader maritime energy transition in Orkney and elsewhere. We will draw upon embedded energy system and maritime innovation expertise in Orkney and in the north east of England, both areas identified as centres of excellence in research and development for these sectors. Our consortium is further strengthened by the involvement of leading technology developers from all across the United Kingdom, who will bring their innovative systems and solutions to Orkney for testing in our "living laboratory". This combined work programme will build on Orkney's position as an ideal location to research, develop and demonstrate the maritime technologies and working practices of the future.
258,323
2021-09-01 to 2022-03-31
Collaborative R&D
This project is a collaboration between ULEMCo Ltd (lead), RAF Leeming (RAFL), Teesside International Airport (TIAL) and Newcastle University (NU). It will explore the feasibility of the use of hydrogen to decarbonise a range of operations within air transport particularly the demonstration of the use of zero-emission hydrogen engines in specialist utility vehicles used within ground support operations for the airports. This will support the strategic plans of both locations to experiment with innovative low carbon technologies, particularly Project Vital, RAF Leeming's plan for a hydrogen innovation hub at the base and also inform TIALs objectives for net zero status. The project will provide detailed information on the current duty cycles of a range of air-support vehicles used at the two sites and other similar locations across the UK. This will enable modelling and assessment of the energy use for the applications created by the University, as well as providing a detailed definition of the performance requirements of the vehicles; dyno testing and calibration of the world's first zero-emission converted truck engine (based on applying the learning from ULEMCo's previously Innovate supported project, MLE that proved the concept of 100% hydrogen combustion with zero-emissions); engineering design/integration and demonstration of a zero-emission hybrid Medium Aircraft Tractor (MAT) and the development of the business cases for each location's potential future investment in scaled hydrogen hubs and refuelling facilities at their sites. The project will also deliver the essential detailed safety assessments for the demonstration phase, which equally inform the UK's overall approach to regulations for hydrogen in airport and military use, as well as the University's independent assessment of the engine's emission testing, including building capability for local PEMS testing, transfer of learning from ULEMCo for the needs of hydrogen refuelling to the two public sector organisations facilities, and dissemination of the learning for wider UK operations at these types of multifunctional air-transport operations. Outcomes 1\. Demonstrating hydrogen vehicle conversions 2\. Assessing zero-emission hydrogen combustion engine solutions for RAFL/TIAL ground transport 3\. Integration into existing operations - unforeseen challenges, barriers, solutions and future opportunities 4\. Testing use case for Tees Valley Transport Hub by RAFL/TIAL 5\. Feasibility study into the opportunities for RAFL & TIAL to be hydrogen refuelling hubs for both military and public vehicle's (and the longer-term implications for aviation). 6\. Growing business collaboration and demand by seeding activity between RAFL/ ULEMCo Ltd and NU.
187,524
2021-08-01 to 2022-03-31
Collaborative R&D
This 8-month feasibility project which is a collaboration led by ULEMCo Ltd, the specialist hydrogen commercial vehicle company, with Oxfordshire Fire & Rescue Service part of Oxfordshire CC to complete a feasibility study into developing a bespoke hydrogen fuel cell based zero emission niche vehicle chassis platform that will be adaptable for special purpose applications like fire pumping appliances. Initially the partners will develop a deep understanding of the specific duty cycles for these types of vehicles when operated in a variety of use scenarios particularly urban and rural, so that a thorough understanding and detailed model of the existing energy use can be created that includes the power and energy use required to pump water for a minimum of 4 hours and the optimal range requirement. The fuel cell electric powertrain configuration will then be researched so that it will meet this optimised energy need combined with the operational requirements for the vehicles to be available and ready for use at all times as an emergency service, 24/7 service readiness, where the duty cycle will involve 4 to 40 hours continuous running with sufficient green hydrogen refuelling facilities for the various fleet locations. The project plans to focus on identifying solutions that will satisfy the range of operational vehicle requirements of the service which covers a small city as well as across the county boundaries. The technical approach involves completing a thorough engineering research investigation into the feasibility of applying state-of the art (particularly from the UK supply chain) and commercially available electrification technology options including light-weight chassis, innovative e-drive solutions, options for onboard energy storage including the hydrogen and fuel cell technology that would give the required flexibility to the platform to deliver the specialist vehicle application requirements. The project is particularly innovative in that it will deliver a world-first by determining the scope of applying the globally leading OEM sourced Fuel cell technology (proven in passenger cars), within the design solution for vehicle platform which due to its proven high efficiency, lightweight and compact design is expected to offer the best route to delivering the optimised specification. The key outputs from the project will provide a full specification, detailed CAD engineered design for a prototype, a high-level bill of materials identifying key component costs and supplier options and a project plan for the next stage of R&D, which will involve the physical build of the prototype vehicle.
142,500
2020-06-01 to 2021-03-31
Feasibility Studies
no public description
647,495
2019-12-01 to 2022-08-31
Collaborative R&D
This £2.44m 2.5-year project, led by ULEMCo, will deliver an operational prototype zero emission ambulance, for Yorkshire Ambulance Service (YAS) based on taking the current TRL3 level feasibility study for use of a fuel cell range extension (FC Rx) power module on a OEM EV, along with light-weighting, base vehicle modifications and innovative power electronics to a TRL5 level demonstration vehicle, that will also be applicable to additional customer partner, Ocado for their refrigerated vans. The demonstration prototype will be certified for use under CEN1789 so that it can be field tested around the Sheffield area, where the hydrogen will be sourced at publicly available stations. ULEMCo with their sub-contractor Revolve Technologies (RT) will develop and integrate a FC Rx power module and hydrogen system kit, to be fitted onto the modified base EV; Lyra Electronics (LE) will apply innovative solutions for DC/DC conversion and power solutions for the on-board equipment; Ocado will share learning on light-weighting such that YAS can procure appropriate changes from their box supplier; all partners targeting the demonstration of a ZEV that has a range of up to 300 miles, top speed over 70 mph; with GVW that allows for 800 kg payload and a box body fitted with the appropriate equipment (currently 1350kg), within the constraints of the cargo dimensions. The key objectives alongside the specific opportunity for a world first in a hydrogen FCEV of this size (>5 tonnes van) will be the application of innovative approaches to deliver the weight, vehicle performance and range requirements of the two applications and the creation of a stand-alone FC Rx module and system control kit, which can be applied to other similar vehicle applications. In phase 1 all the partners will focus on the innovation needed at a system level to deliver weight reduction, modifications of the base vehicle, optimisation of the fuel cell characteristics and incorporation of the onboard equipment electronics to deliver the speed and range targets of the application. Having developed the detailed engineering design and build programme for the vehicle and the body, it then moves on to a physical build phase involving procurement, build, integration and test of the FC module with the vehicle, in parallel to the work to build the body and transfer learning of such to Ocado's box supplier. The final phase includes completion of single vehicle type approval, and ambulance certification with testing by YAS.
157,359
2017-09-01 to 2019-02-28
Collaborative R&D
This 18 month project is targeted to address the challenge of dramatically reducing carbon and air quality emissions in heavy goods vehicles (HGV). The market opportunity is to address this critical national energy and environmental requirement to reduce emissions, at the same time as delivering practical, cost effective solutions for truck and fleet operators, where overall the competitive costs of vehicle ownership is acutely important for their business operation success. Technological solutions being proposed to date, such as hybridisation, either add significant cost to the vehicle or require extensive change to the duty cycle and patterns of use. The aim of this project is to build on ULEMCo’s existing capability with hydrogen diesel dual fuel, which currently provides around 25% displacement of diesel with hydrogen on a EURO V1 truck and reduces tailpipe carbon emissions by that equivalent, to one which would meet ultra-low emission standards (<75g/km CO2 and significantly better on air quality emissions), particularly in urban areas. The outcome of this highly innovative approach would be to enable ULEMCo to compete across a wider range of HGV platforms, and ensure that their UK developed technology stays ahead of regulatory standards, providing a world beating commercial proposition which is not only relevant for the UK market but also globally significant.
702,687
2017-04-01 to 2019-06-30
Collaborative R&D
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.
402,375
2017-04-01 to 2019-03-31
Collaborative R&D
The Chinese government have prioritised the need to decarbonise energy and address air quality problems through the use of hydrogen energy from renewables and into vehicles. This business led, 24 month project will investigate the practical challenges of developing mass market hydrogen fuelled vehicles for China, particularly looking at commercial vehicles, novel routes to “green” hydrogen production and relevant hydrogen storage approaches which will be purposefully designed to meet the specific market challenges in China. Led by UK SME ULEMCo Ltd, for the vehicle and fuelling infrastructure, with Wuhan New Energy Institute (WNEI) of Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) and Hubei Swan Coatings CO., LTD. to bring local Chinese market energy storage capability, the University of Liverpool (UoL) & HUST for a novel H2 production route, success in the project will lead to a clear road map for demonstration of significant carbon reduction and ultra-low air quality emissions for 1000s of vehicles in China, within the next 10 years.
52,315
2015-11-01 to 2017-01-31
Feasibility Studies
This 12 month technical feasibility project tests the opportunity for an innovative whole system approach to solve the trilemma of improving energy security from increased deployment of renewable generation which is otherwise grid constrained, providing an overall improvement of the commercial viability of renewable generation, and reducing the cost of producing "green" hydrogen particularly where additional grid costs are incurred, such as farms and remote locations. It creates a technically validated, detailed model, based on using a novel control system, that balances energy generation and use on site that is connection compliant to the parameters stipulated in Engineering Recommendation G83/3, enabling real time cost, grid balancing and peak shaving capability to store and produce low cost hydrogen. The project, led by ULEMCO Ltd with partners Revolve Technologies and Clean Power Solutions, takes the current individual system components (already installed at Springbank Farm, Cheshire), adds SMART on board vehicle storage, low cost h2 refuelling, and then gathers real use data to define, quantify and validate the optimum operating value of the whole system.
103,394
2015-07-01 to 2017-09-30
Collaborative R&D
This project builds upon the work previously carried out in the IDP4 CREO programme, where a concept of emissions and CO2 reductions using hydrogen was explored. This work demonstrated good reductions in HC and CO emissions when used with an oxidation catalyst, good NOx conversion using a special catalyst formulation, and significant fuel reduction during DPF regeneration. All of these features will allow OEM's to optimise the engines for fuel economy rather than emissions, often conflicting parameters. Using energy recovered from the vehicle overrun to generate Hydrogen, the consortium seeks to develop an integrated system that can demonstrate an effective emissions control system based on the CREO findings. This concept will be highly disruptive to the current emissions control strategies and has the capacity to provide an alternative means of NOx control whilst offering much better control of HC, CO and particulates. This technology could open the path for the next stage in emissions reduction beyond stage VI.