The UK government has unveiled a new scheme today (January 18th), backed by the auto industry and Johnson Matthey, that will drive forward the development of fuel cell cars.

UK H2 Mobility, which is being supported by Toyota, General Motors, Daimler and Hyundai, will produce a plan of action to make fuel cell vehicles commercially available on a large scale by 2015.

It will look at the case for low carbon transport, the specific investments required and identify what is needed to make the UK a world leader in fuel cell developments.

"Hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles are increasingly being recognised as one of the viable options as we move to a lower carbon motoring future," said business minister Mark Prisk.

"They are highly efficient, can be fuelled in minutes, travel an equivalent range to a conventional combustion engine, and have zero tail-pipe emissions."

He explained that the UK is both an early market for low-emission vehicles and has a number of "world-class" companies developing new engines using hydrogen fuel cell technology.

"UKH2Mobility will bring together industry expertise to establish the UK as a serious global player in the manufacture and use of hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles and the supporting infrastructure," the minister added.

Germany launched a similar scheme in 2009, while both Japan and California have initiatives in place to support fuel cell technology.

The UK project's supporters include Johnson Matthey, one the world's leading manufacturers of catalytic convertors for cars and components for fuel cells.

Other backers include gas company Air Liquide, Scottish and Southern Energy, Air Products, BOC, ITM Power, Tata and Nissan.

Jerry Hardcastle, vice-president for vehicle design and development at Nissan, belives the scheme will "lay many of the foundations for the commercial deployment of hydrogen-powered fuel cell electric vehicles which could represent a large segment of the UK market in the coming years".

The government is committing £400 million to support low-emission vehicles, including fuel cell cars.

Schemes include the £5,000 plug-in car grant, which the government says is also applicable to fuel cell vehicles.

Car makers have been investing heavily in fuel cells recently with several firms unveiling models.

General Motors, for example, has put $2 billion into research and development and will introduce fuel cell vehicles in Europe and the US by 2016.

The participating companies and government departments will meet over the coming months and draw up an action plan to develop hydrogen fuel cell cars by the end of the year.

Sources:



New Government and cross industry programme to make hydrogen powered travel in the UK a reality (18/01/12)



Hydrogen cell cars move to fast lane (17/01/12)

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