Hydrogen powered vehicles are now looking increasingly likely, especially in the commercial vehicle sector. Hydrogen commercial vehicles would slash pollution and emissions by an incredible amount and I personally think this could be by far and away the best alternative fuel yet!

Hydrogen Project

The government has launched a new project which is intended to assess the potential of hydrogen as a fuel source, and if the project emerges to be a success then a finished hydrogen fuel product could be rolled out for 2014 onwards, and we will then quickly see more and more hydrogen powered vans on our streets amongst other hydrogen powered vehicles.

Imagine a hydrogen powered bus, for example. If one in five buses in London alone were powered by hydrogen then emissions would be reduced massively which would be fantastic news for the environment of course.

Analysis and Assessment

The government’s project is also intended to analyse the viability of developing sufficient infrastructure in order to incorporate refuelling points for hydrogen powered vehicles and to assess the economic benefits the country on the whole could gain from using the gas as an alternative fuel. It could, for a start, lower commercial vehicle insurance quotes.

Mark Prisk, Business Minister, has been commenting that the UK could become a key market for low-carbon vehicles, and he was quoted saying: “Hydrogen vehicles are increasingly being recognised as one of the viable options as we move to a lower carbon motoring future. It is vitally important that we identify what is required to make these cars a realistic proposition for UK consumers.” The difficulty it would seem is not in harnessing the fuel, but perhaps in building the correct facilities for it to be distributed nationwide.

Backing for the Project

Meanwhile, the initiative to move to commercial hydrogen vehicles has been backed by a number of gas, infrastructure and utility companies in the UK. The new initiative to launch hydrogen vehicles has been named UKH2Mobility and will also research how jobs can be created by the move into hydrogen fuels. Jerry Hardcastle, Head of Design at Nissan, has been explaining: “Hydrogen-powered fuel cell electric vehicles…could represent a large segment of the UK market in the coming years.” It would indeed be brilliant if thousands of jobs were created by the new plans, especially at a time when unemployment has been on the rise!

Hydrogen fuels, it seems, will not only be a great achievement for the environment, but for the UK economy too!