Amey has a 10-year contract for Herefordshire Council, worth up to £290m, to maintain highways, street lights, buildings, fleet and plant.
It has taken part in trials of hydrogen vehicles organised by ITM Power in association with the Technology Strategy Board. ITM designs and manufactures hydrogen energy systems for energy storage and clean fuel production and is currently undertaking an initiative e called HOST, the UK’s largest cross sector hydrogen trial.
ITM delivered two hydrogen vehicles and two ISO containers to Amey’s main Hereford depot. The first container holds water which is split into hydrogen and oxygen. The pure hydrogen is channelled into the second container and used to fill up the hydrogen powered vehicles.
Amey used the hydrogen vehicles in exactly the same way it would use its own regular fleet in and around the city. The trial will generate data about the cars’ performance. ITM Power will then analyse all the information from 21 independent trials to compare the performance of hydrogen and conventional heavy fuel vehicles. The aim is to help develop a business case for the promotion of hydrogen vehicles.
Amey director Keith Sexton said: “Our customers in local authorities are facing severe pressure from central government to reduce their emissions and carbon footprint. In addition, Amey has a fleet of more than 4,000 vehicles, and fuel makes up about 80% part of our carbon footprint. As such we are continually looking for ways to reduce our transport related emissions.
“In addition to initiatives like fuel efficient driver training, and the roll out of video conferencing facilities, we continue to monitor and support the development of alternative fuelled vehicles.”
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