Leading designer and manufacturer of Fuel Cell Systems and Range Extenders Symbio FCell, and innovative UK engineering services business Arcola Energy, will be teaming up to demonstrate the real, commercial opportunity of hydrogen (H2) and fuel cell technologies for urban fleet vehicles at Cenex LCV2015 – the UK’s premier low carbon vehicle event.

Symbio FCell and its UK sales and deployment support partner, Arcola Energy, will be exhibiting the Renault Kangoo ZE-H2 electric van with Fuel Cell Range Extender at Cenex LCV2015, which takes place on 9^th and 10^th September at Millbrook technology centre.

This fuel cell electric light duty vehicle is part of Aberdeen City Council’s Hydrogen Transport Economy (HyTrEc) project that aims to improve access and advance the adoption of hydrogen as an alternative energy across the North Sea Region.

Two electric Renault Kangoo ZE-H2 vans fitted with hydrogen fuel cell range extenders provided by Symbio FCell are being integrated into the Council’s fleet.

Fuel Cell Range Extenders have been developed to address the range limitation issues of battery powered electric vehicles, more than doubling the driving range of an electric only van.  These hybrid light duty vehicles provide the low emission advantages of an electric vehicle without the range limitations or lengthy recharging time of battery only EVs.

Hydrogen is used in a clean electro-chemical process to produce electricity to charge the battery / run the electric motor, with water vapour being the only exhaust emission.  As well as generating zero emissions at the point of use (and being zero carbon if the hydrogen is generated from renewable sources), hydrogen fuel cells have other benefits such as lower road and fuel taxes and low noise pollution.

Other benefits of Symbio FCell’s Fuel Cell Range Extenders:

• Can be added without any structural modification to the vehicle.
• The fuel cell produces electricity, heat and water. Electricity produced by the fuel cell is used to charge the battery / drive the motor; the heat produced is captured and used to warm the vehicle cabin in winter.
• With the range extender kit, battery lifetime is also extended because the increased driving range reduces the frequency of deep battery discharge that degrades the battery.
• The range extender kit can be dismounted and re-mounted in a new vehicle if required.
• The 74-litre hydrogen tank has a 15-year service lifetime and a driving range of approximately 360km per full tank, equivalent to 0.5 kg H2 per 100 km. NOTE that this is realdriving range. Figures from a key customer are 344.9 km per tank in urban/peri-urban usage with 300 kg payload.
• The refueling time is less than 3 minutes.