Hydrogen fuel cell is an ideal drivetrain for light commercial vehicles, offering a better option across various use cases compared to battery electric, according to the company which has just concluded a four-week trial.

Fleet management business Rivus is the first company to carry out real-world testing of a prototype 3.5-tonne hydrogen fuel cell (HFC) van from First Hydrogen and gave Fleet News exclusive access to its findings with an interview in June.

Its studies have revealed several advantages compared to battery electric vans (BEVs), including improved payload, longer range, better efficiency and quicker refuelling.

SSE has also completed a four-week trial with the First Hydrogen fuel cell van.

Sarah Gray, head of EV and alternative fuels at Rivus, said the company was keen to be the first to take the vans on trial after carrying out similar tests on a range of battery electric vehicles (BEVs).

“A number of our customers have a challenge of moving to BEV due to range and payload issues,” she said.

“We wanted to trial hydrogen fuel cell so we can help our customers on their transition to zero emission. We thought it would be better than EV if it worked and, from our learnings, the duty cycles and payload can be fulfilled by this technology.”

Rivus wanted to acquire richer data from measuring different duty cycles and use cases to help it to determine fuel consumption and total cost of ownership for future vehicle roll out among its fleet customers.

Four drivers were selected for the trial, including engineer Gemma Horne (pictured), all based out of Rivus’s Birmingham site near an ITM Motive hydrogen fuelling station.

They received a half a day of training at the MIRA testing facility in Nuneaton which included demonstrations on how to drive, load and fuel the vehicle, plus some time behind the wheel.

Horne, who took a video of the refuelling process to show how easy and quick – just a few minutes - it is, said: “I’d never driven a hydrogen van before, but I have had electric. I was sceptical at first, but I was impressed when I started testing. It was very smooth, especially for a prototype, and similar to driving an electric vehicles.”

When the solitary hydrogen fuel cell van was deployed with Rivus, the drivers received another half a day of refresher training.

Rivus planned out three use case routes around the Birmingham and South Yorkshire areas - urban, extra urban and combined – which it had previous used for diesel and electric tests. It added further assessments on longer routes and for parcel delivery.

Metrics included driving on different terrain at varying speeds, unladen, transporting different payloads and with heating, air conditioning and other ancillary vehicle functions turned on and off.

Data was gathered by the onboard telematics to make direct performance comparisons between similar BEV and ICE vehicles that have undertaken the same duty cycles.

Over the four-week period, the van travelled 742 miles across 47 hours.

“It looks like a robust technology that copes with most use cases,” said Guy Fawcus, Rivus data analyst for electric vehicles.

“On BEVs, we found that fully laden they would lose 10-15% of their range. With hydrogen, it’s a negligible reduction when driving with maximum payload. The stated range is 500km (310 miles); we easily achieved that – the efficiency is actually even higher than stated.”

Its analysis found that average consumption was 3.3kg per 100 miles, which equated to 323 miles of range, using 90% of the tank capacity.

The fuel cell van uses a combination of hydrogen and battery power. On average, the fuel cell was used 40% of the time. It was used more often at higher speeds and on extra urban driving, and less often on urban runs. It was also used more when accelerating hard, but was used only sparingly on package delivery journeys.

Rivus experienced some issues with refuelling due to the large size of the tanks (10.3kg). On a few occasions, the hydrogen pump cut out as it was not used to delivering such a high volume of hydrogen. 

Allan Rushforth, chief commercial officer at First Hydrogen (pictured), acknowledges that zero emission transport is likely to encompass a range of solutions. However, HFC, he said, would suit operators that needed longer range, faster refuelling and higher payloads, claims which have now been supported by Rivus’s data.

“Also, the ability for fleets to charge electric vans in series in depots is compromised,” he added. “So hydrogen fits the mould where the grid doesn’t support deployment of electric.”

Rushforth is keen to start cold weather testing which he believes will reveal significant advantages for HFC over BEV.

“The trials are helping us to understand performance capability, how the vehicle can be improved when taken to mass production and to test appetite among target customers,” he said.

“We can also work out the total cost of ownership so we can develop robust costings.”

Rivus analysis found that - at the moment - the First Hydrogen vehicle struggles with cost comparisons to BEVs and diesel vans.

At current hydrogen prices of £9.23 per kilo, the vehicle cost 31p per mile to fuel. At 40p per kWh, a fully-electric LCV would cost 18ppm, while a diesel would cost 22ppm if the pump price was £1.46 per litre.

Rushforth pointed to a recent report by UK H2Mobility which suggests HFC will be competitive with diesel by 2025/26 as diesel pump prices rise and the cost of hydrogen falls. It is expected to be on a par with BEV by the end of the decade.

“Our real-time data will enable us to make those projections come alive,” he said.

The next step under consideration is the implications for the aftersales network. Rivus operates its own network of workshops and is assessing how hydrogen fits into its operations.

Rushforth said: “We can use the knowledge from this trial to develop our aftersales proposition. There’s a lot of technical knowledge from BEV that crosses over to hydrogen fuel cell, but we are still learning.”

Gray added: “We want to get the vehicle again for a second round of testing and we are also keen to have hydrogen vans from other manufacturers. We want to test that technology to support our customers and so we can better understand the servicing frequencies and schedules for SMR.”

About the van

The First Hydrogen van is a zero-emission 3.5-tonne utility model which offers a modular design for light and medium commercial vehicle applications.

As a prototype, based on a MAN TGE, it is heavier than a series production model, which reduces the payload.

First Hydrogen is considering two options for full scale production: taking a donor-based vehicle or creating its own bespoke model.

A donor-based van would come to market towards the end of 2025/early 2026, while developing its own model – it has already shared images of the Generation II concept van - would push the launch date out to 2027.

“Our decision will depend on the data we get from the trials,” said Rushforth. “We are right on the cusp of making that decision.”

The van is modular on wheelbase and height, enabling it to fulfil a range of sizes and weights.

It holds 10kg of hydrogen for a stated range of 310 miles. Refuelling takes less than 10 minutes.

While disappointed by recent hydrogen refuelling sites, Rushforth says there are enough to run trials and that other stations are due to open. “The outlook looks more positive,” he added.

Nevertheless, Europe is moving at a much quicker pace. “There’s a vacuum regarding Government policy on deployment in the UK that doesn’t support us. We are not moving at the pace we need to,” he said.

“This is a failure by the Government to recognise there is a gap when it comes to meeting its zero emission targets. BEV isn’t the full solution; the future will be a mix of solutions.”

Technical specification

• 3.5-tonne large panel van
• 100kW electric drive unit
• 55kW net fuel cell power
• Anticipated 500km average range (310 miles)
• 13.6m3 load capacity
• 630kg payload (production vehicle will have 950kg payload)
• 10.3kg hydrogen capacity
• Refuels <10mins

Who is First Hydrogen?

Start-up company First Hydrogen, based in London and Vancouver, has two business streams: green hydrogen production and automotive, principally light commercial vehicles and hydrogen fuel cell.

It is running a programme of demonstration trials this year co-ordinated through the UK Aggregated Hydrogen Freight Consortium to test, learn and refine its hydrogen large panel van.

Rivus was the first to take part with a one-month trial in May. First Hydrogen has this month kicked off its second trial with SSE in Aberdeen which Fleet News is tracking and will report on shortly.

It also has further trials in the pipeline, including with fleets in the delivery, supermarket, healthcare and utilities sectors.

“We believe hydrogen fuel cell is relevant for all van sizes and we’ve had interest from short-duty cycle parcel delivery operators – it’s a function in the fragility of the grid in some local areas,” said Rushforth.