The filling station that makes its own fuel

Record ID: 103369

  • Title: The filling station that makes its own fuel
  • Date: 16th May 2016
  • Summary: GRAPHIC (FILE) (REUTERS) GRAPHIC EXPLAINING HOW SYSTEM WORKS
  • Embargoed: 31st May 2016 16:20
  • Keywords: hydrogen power renewable energy Hyundai
  • Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM / ANIMATION
  • City: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM / ANIMATION
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: Science
  • Reuters ID: LVA0024I258IJ
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: A public hydrogen filling station has opened in London that creates the gas on site from tap water and renewable energy - a first for the British capital.
    Three different models of hydrogen-powered cars are available in the UK at present, including the Hyundai ix35, and those who drive them now have a new place to fill up.
    By the end of next year there will be 12 such hydrogen filling stations in the UK.
    It uses electricity generated from renewable sources such as wind power to split water into its constituent parts: hydrogen and oxygen, with the hydrogen stored in a tank on site and the oxygen released into the atmosphere.
    The whole facility can also be switched on and off by the power company to help them balance demand on the grid.
    It can also pump gas into the national grid when it makes too much, helping to heat homes.
    Green power company ITM, which is behind the filling station, says fuel cells turning hydrogen into electricity solves the problem of what to do with the UK's excess renewable energy.
    "You can re-fuel it in three minutes and it will go over three hundred miles. They are the limitations of a plug-in electric vehicle. You also export the energy from the power grid in a much more effective way," said Dr Graham Cooley, ITM's chief executive.
    Refuelling at the site fills the tank with 5 kg. of pressurised hydrogen which costs around of 10 Pounds per kilogram, giving a range of around 300 miles, depending on the model.
    Hydrogen pumps will soon start appearing in Shell's forecourts, and all the major car manufacturers see hydrogen as a fuel of the future - according to Toyota's Jon Hunt.
    "The issue is dispensing it and delivering it to vehicles which is what we see here today in terms of the new infrastructure being developed. It's the delivery of the fuel and it's a relatively straightforward process to do it," he explained.
    Using hydrogen to power cars is a relatively nascent technology, and there are only a handful of hydrogen-powered vehicles on the UK's roads.
    Hydrogen filling stations remain fairly scarce across Europe - Germany has 15, there are two in Denmark and the first commercial hydrogen station was opened in Iceland in 2003.
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