The first public refuelling station opened under the European HyFive project is located at Hampton Road, in Teddington, at the premises of the National Physical Laboratory. Inaugurated on 10 May, it is now operational and allows users to fill up if they already own a Toyota Mirai, a Hyundai ix35 or a Honda Clarity.

This is the first of three stations to be built in the city of London under the HyFive project, which brings together 5 car manufacturers and many other partners in creating a refuelling network for hydrogen mobility.

Also present at the event was Transport Minister Andrew Jones MP, who announced an additional government fund of 2.5 million euros to encourage companies to choose low-emission fleets. "We have committed to making all cars and vans zero-emission by 2050, and hydrogen vehicles have a major role to play in delivering cleaner, greener mobility. The new refuelling station in Teddington is just one of the 12 stations we will open this year, supported by £5 million of government funding, which will make it easier for a growing number of people to switch to this new technology."

The technology used was supplied by Itm Power in collaboration with Linde Group, both of which are engaged in the development of hydrogen refuelling and production systems. "We are extremely pleased to have inaugurated the first HyFive refuelling station here in London, to supply clean fuel to the fuel cell car models already available on the market," said Graham Cooley, chief executive of Itm Power.

UK incentives for hydrogen cars

The fund just launched by the Office for Low Emission Vehicles (Olev) adds to the £5 million already made available in February of last year. The aim is to cover up to 75 per cent of the price of new vehicles, in order to triple the number of fuel cell cars on the road by next spring, reaching approximately one hundred hydrogen cars.

The HyFive project in Bolzano

In Bolzano, in 2014, one of the first refuelling stations was established — certainly one of the most technologically advanced. Here, hydrogen is used to fill up not only vehicles but also a fleet of buses. And more importantly, the energy comes from renewable sources such as solar and hydroelectric power.