Even before the rise of electric vehicles, there was a lot of talk about the potential of hydrogen power. Paul Hollick, Association of Fleet Professionals chair, assesses the possibility of the fuel becoming a fleet-friendly option.

Paul Hollick, Association of Fleet Professionals chair

Ever since I’ve been involved in the fleet industry, hydrogen has been the “five years from now…” solution to zero emissions. It’s never quite ready for serious levels of adoption and its promise of compromise-free travel never quite materialises.

Now, however, at the Association of Fleet Professionals (AFP), we are hearing a handful of fleet managers – all van operators – talk about hydrogen as a serious part of a present tense, multi-fuel, zero emissions strategy.

This interest doesn’t mean that the many problems surrounding hydrogen have gone away, though. For example, clean production of the fuel – known as green hydrogen – remains expensive, while – from an availability standpoint – there are just 15 public stations across the UK. So why are fleets going down this road?

The answer is that they are discovering the limits of electric vans, at least for now. For many fleets in many applications, range and payload of the existing models available remain simply too compromised by the battery powertrain. There are also operational issues from poor towing ability through to practical difficulties such as charging out of hours. Against this backdrop, especially for fleets with zero emissions corporate targets, hydrogen is looking like a serious option for some.

The development that makes this move appear viable is really a single vehicle. Arriving in the UK soon, the Vauxhall Vivaro Hydrogen van has a 249-mile range and can be refuelled in three minutes. It’s really the first van of its kind produced and sold by a major manufacturer in quantity. In isolation, it appears to be a genuine contender.

However, fleets adopting these vehicles will face several hurdles. Refuelling is the main one, probably requiring the construction of their own hydrogen bunkering facilities to ensure supply, while the price of hydrogen has been even more volatile than other road fuels in recent times.

Importantly, residual values are basically an unknown. But remarketing a vehicle for which there is effectively no refuelling infrastructure is always going to be difficult. It’s worth bearing in mind here the experience of Swindon, which had two hydrogen filling stations a few years ago, leading to local fleets dipping a toe in the water with available hydrogen cars. Both closed and those fleets were effectively left with nowhere to go.

Really, the key fact is that, to become a serious national option in the UK, hydrogen needs substantial government backing, similar to the kind seen in Germany. That means both support for the purchase of new vehicles and the creation of a viable national network of green hydrogen stations.

Our view is that when it comes to early adoption, as with electric vehicles, production availability and technology tends to follow the places where there are incentives. However, that just doesn’t look like happening here in any meaningful way, certainly under the current government.

Until then, we’ll be watching the few fleets that are actively adopting hydrogen with a high degree of interest. Some of the most prominent are AFP members and we hope to share their experiences and their developing best practice over the coming months and years.