First Hydrogen to start testing fuel cell vehicle
The vehicle is equipped with Ballard Power Systems’ fuel cells and is currently being built by AVL Powertrain UK.
First Hydrogen Corp. announced that its two MAN-based fuel cell-powered light commercial demonstrator vehicles (LCV) are on schedule to commence operational testing next month.
These two vehicles are expected to be road legal by September 2022, allowing for trials with major fleet operators. It is anticipated that these trials will be carried out with a significant number of fleet operators and buyers based on the interest which has already been generated. These trials will serve to enhance product development and create customer engagement and partnerships around First Hydrogen Automotive’s future fleets of LCVs.
Steve Gill, CEO of First Hydrogen Automotive, stated, “We chose to start by developing road-legal demonstrators using a donor platform that will enable customers to see, feel and experience the benefits and operation of a hydrogen propulsion system in a familiar set-up and compare it directly to an EV. This platform and design allow us to bring our product to customers in a much shorter timeframe.”
The base vehicle is derived from a MAN eTGE van (part of the Volkswagen Group, and the Ballard Fcgen®-LCS hydrogen-powered fuel cell and hydrogen tanks have been integrated without any impact on the customer features of the van, such as interior space or load height.
The resulting vehicles will have over 500km of range capability, based on the Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicle Test Procedure (WLTP), versus a 115km range when compared to a base EV, with the same maximum speed. The refuelling time is typically five minutes.
