At the heart of the revolution
ECO experts on Teesside claim its share in the future of green transport lies in hydrogen and fuel cell technology, as motor industry leaders met to discuss mass production of green vehicles this week.
Peter Walsh, energy manager at Wilton-based Renew, said the Tees Valley’s work around the production of hydrogen from non-fossil fuels, once properly established, would position the region as a UK hub for the green motoring revolution.
Industry leaders and Government officials met earlier this week for discussions on kick-starting the commercial production of low-carbon vehicles.
Mr Walsh said hydrogen was the key to unlocking Tees Valley’s potential for electric and hybrid vehicle technology.
“Our main area of progress will be fuel cell development, but there are many other systems, including advanced battery technologies, that will enable SMEs and large fleet operators on Teesside to lower their carbon footprint.”
Renew and the Centre for Process Innovation within which it sits partnered with the University of Sunderland’s AMAP team last monthto create a ground-breaking hydrogen powered Nissan Almera that produced only water at the exhaust.
The event this week saw energy, automotive, planning experts and government representatives from more than 15 countries gather to debate the technological challenges, key barriers and opportunities created by the market.
One of the meeting's aims will be to produce a declaration on how to take the outcomes forward.
It's also expected that the progress made will be fed into the G8 Energy Forum in Japan in November and the London Energy Summit in December as low carbon vehicles are expected to be on the agendas for both these events.
Currently, less than 0.1% of the UK's 26 million cars are electric.
