Glasgow City Council and ULEMCo has commenced the largest single deployment of hydrogen dual fuel vehicles in the company’s history.
This follows an order secured with Scottish company James A Cuthbertson Ltd, to transform Glasgow City Council’s existing fleet and some new gritters to be hydrogen enabled.
Thanks to Scottish government funding through Transport Scotland, the work will see 20 gritter/multi-purpose vehicles ready for use on the streets by next winter, providing a significant opportunity for a reduction in CO2 emissions.
Around half of the fleet of 20 vehicles will be converted to hydrogen dual fuel, while the rest will be hydrogen enabled from the start.
Based on the gritters’ normal duty cycles, around a third of the energy is expected to come from hydrogen, resulting in the same proportion of emissions being saved.
The city council is in the process of securing ‘green hydrogen’ for the fleet to refuel.
‘The environmental impact of large diesel powered utility vehicles is very high in city centres,’ said Amanda Lyne, managing director of ULEMCo.
‘We are delighted to support Glasgow City Council in its ambition to become Britain’s first zero net carbon city, and help to ensure that its entire fleet of 2000 vehicles is carbon free by the end of the decade.’
‘We see this development as part of a wider roll-out of hydrogen fuelled fleets across the country, and are really pleased that our first such order is with a local authority so close to our factory in Biggar,’ commented Ewan Tolson, sales manager at Cuthbertson.
‘Our long history and experience of designing and manufacturing specialist highway vehicle bodywork combines well with ULEMCo’s specialist expertise in deploying hydrogen fuel systems – creating a completely UK-manufactured solution.’
