Millbrook Proving Ground in Bedfordshire, has opened a new Air Products SmartFuel hydrogen fuelling station as it prepares for a take-off in fuel cell vehicles. The  fuelling station was officially opened by Business Minister Michael during the Low Carbon Vehicle 2012 conference, and represents a major step forward for the development of a hydrogen infrastructure designed to cut carbon emissions from transport. The station’s dual pressure fuelling capability (350 and 700 bar) allows it to power state-of-the-art fuel cell demonstration vehicles that store hydrogen at a higher pressure, and it will be the country’s only mobile hydrogen station capable of refuelling both buses and cars.  It is the only UK station that has been fully certified by General Motors to J2601, which means it is fully compliant with safety limits and performance requirements for gaseous hydrogen fuel dispensers.

Business Minister Michael Fallon said: “I’m pleased to open the UK’s first 700 bar hydrogen fuelling station at a vehicle testing site. Government is committed to supporting the advancement of low carbon vehicle technology, which is why we have pledged £400 million over the course of this parliament to support the development of ultra-low carbon vehicles.”

Millbrook’s investment, along with partners Transport for London (TfL), and Air Products and supported by funding from the Technology Strategy Board and the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC), will further its ongoing development and testing of low emissions related automotive technologies and will ultimately help with government decisions around transport fuel policies, which will promote the right fuelling infrastructure across the country.

The fuelling station has been supplied and installed by Air Products, which has also recently provided a station to Transport for London to power one of the largest hydrogen-fuelled bus fleets in Europe. As well as recently opening fuelling stations in Freiburg and Hamburg, as coordinators of the EU funded HyTEC project Air Products has just opened a new fuelling station at Heathrow airport to power a set of fuel cell taxis.

Diana Raine, Air Products, European Business Manager Hydrogen Energy said: “The new fuelling station at Millbrook provides a strategic link between the hydrogen facilities in the London and the Midlands, representing a huge step in the ongoing development of hydrogen infrastructure network in the UK. It also shows a real commitment by one of Europe’s leading test facilities to support the development of low carbon transport. Hydrogen transport is a reality now – with the right fuelling infrastructure at the testing and development stage, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles can be used across the whole of the UK