SSE is to be the first utility to trial a hydrogen-powered vehicle from First Hydrogen – and put it to the test in real-life fleet operations. The vehicle, based at an SSE site in Aberdeen located next to a hydrogen fuel station, will be deployed with SSE engineers, enabling the company to experience refuelling times of within seven minutes.

As part of the project, First Hydrogen will also gather data on fuel consumption, usage and efficiency, to therefore calculate total cost of ownership. First Hydrogen announced last year it was partnering with the UK Aggregated Hydrogen Freight Consortium (AHFC) to begin fleet trialling of the hydrogen-powered LCVs.

Steve Gill, CEO Automotive at First Hydrogen, said, “Transitioning to fossil-fuel-free transport is a major step along the road to Net Zero and we are pleased to help SSE become the first utility company to explore hydrogen vehicle performance alongside other alternative fuels to power its maintenance and utilities vehicles.

“We’re also thrilled to take our vehicle to Aberdeen, where so much work is already underway to champion hydrogen and know that the City Council sees this trial as an important test for promoting commercial FCEVs in the area too.”

Ronnie Fleming, Chief Procurement Officer at SSE, said, “As part of our commitment to achieving Net Zero and in addition to our leading EV100 pledge, we are keen to explore all alternative fuels for our fleet.

“We’re looking forward to seeing the vehicles in action, for our drivers to experience how they operate in practice and for our fleet managers to evaluate how hydrogen vehicles could fit into our future fleets.”

SSE operates one of the biggest vehicle fleets in the UK and has committed to switching 2,500 of its vehicles to electric.

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