Shell has launched its first fully-branded hydrogen refuelling station in the UK following the success of their stations in Germany and the US. The station is located at the Cobham service station on the 25, supplied by ITM power.

Shell’s vice president of Future Fuels Matthew Tipper said: “Hydrogen has the potential to become a clean and versatile transport fuel for the future, and the Cobham hydrogen site is one of the ways Shell is encouraging the use of alternative fuels to contribute to the energy transition. This will provide customers with hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles the ability to refuel simply and quickly, at one of the largest petrol stations in the UK.”

The Cobham site opened in 2012 and was designed for the daily 150,000 vehicles that travel along the M25. By opening a public hydrogen refuelling station Shell hopes to overcome the primary issue surrounding hydrogen vehicles, that is the lack of infrastructure to support them.

Fortunately, the future trends of hydrogen mobility look promising. Fuel cell industry shipments grew by two-thirds in 2016 – compared to 2015 levels – with transport-related fuel-cell capacity doubling to 280MW.