Arcola Energy is to lead a project with the goal of building a strong UK supply chain to support the decarbonisation of heavy duty vehicles.
On 24 January, Arcola announced that as part of the project, funded by the Advanced Propulsion Centre’s Automotive Transformation Fund (ATF), it will launch a UK hydrogen supply chain capability assessment through a series of surveys. Working alongside NCC, this will be with a view to developing a roadmap for future R&D and investment needs, with a final report to be available in April 2021. This will provide insights to the APC and Innovate UK on best in-class technology targets and developments in the supply chain for future consideration.
It was noted that with the UK’s market for heavy duty vehicles, including trucks and buses, currently around 40,000 a year, all of these are anticipated to shift to zero emissions in the next 15 to 20 years. This could see fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) take between 25% and 50% of the market.
Arcola Energy’s technology platform will be used as a baseline for current and upcoming technology requirements in the survey, owed to it being a leading developer of FCEV powertrains. Critical components within this platform, including large-scale on-board hydrogen storage, fuel cell systems and high power density battery systems will form the basis of the surveys. NCC, meanwhile, will serve as a gateway to the wider network throughout the project. The NCC team will work to identify supply chain opportunities for UK companies and where research and innovation is necessary for the sector to achieve its potential.
