London(UK)- Kevin Kendall pulls up at the only green hydrogen refuelling station in Birmingham, Britain’s second-biggest city, and swiftly fills his sedan with clean gas.
Green hydrogen is in sharp focus as governments seek to slash carbon emissions amid record-high temperatures and to safeguard energy supplies hit by the invasion of Ukraine by oil and gas producer Russia.
But the “hydrogen economy” has not fully kicked into gear, awaiting significant uptake from high-polluting sectors like steel and aviation.
For Kendall, being an early user of green hydrogen means he does not have to queue to what resembles a petrol pump during his lunchtime trip.
“There is very little green hydrogen being produced in Britain at the moment,” the professor of chemical engineering tells AFP. “It needs now to move forward.”
In Birmingham, central England, it costs about £50 ($60) to fill Kendall’s Toyota Mirai with the green hydrogen produced at a plant next to the refuelling station.
That is around half the bill for a similar-sized diesel car after the Ukraine war sent fossil fuel prices rocketing.
Despite the price benefit, Britain is home to around only a dozen hydrogen refuelling stations.
While hydrogen is the most abundant element on Earth, it is locked in water and hydrocarbons such as natural gas, meaning “it’s difficult to make”, according to Kendall’s daughter, Michaela Kendall.
Together they founded Adelman, a small-sized business producing box-shaped fuel cells similar to the metal-encased devices used to help power the Toyota Mirai.
Set up 26 years ago, Adelman is the longest-running maker of fuel cells in Britain — which also work with liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) — while the company also offers a leasing service for the Japanese automaker’s hydrogen cars.
“Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the economics of green hydrogen have become increasingly attractive,” Minh Khoi Le, head of hydrogen research at Rystad Energy, told AFP.