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LEH2M Formal Submission-Evidence to Parliament Science and Technology Committee January 2021

November 17, 2021

LEH2M
Low Emission & Hydrogen Mobilisation Ltd
Unit 1, 46 St Malo Avenue
London, N9 0SA
M : 07771-536010
T: 0208-807-5912
e-M : info@leh2m.com
chandra@chandrasekar.co.uk

Submission of Formal Evidence
Science and Technology Committee (Commons)

This submission is made by Low Emissions and Hydrogen Mobilisation Ltd (LEH2M) who are consultancy for the promotion of Hydrogen, the Hydrogen Economy and Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (“FCEV”) powered by Hydrogen. Our expertise is in the promotion of companies in all areas of the Hydrogen Economy, and of the Hydrogen Economy itself and its connection to and potential integration with all aspects of the economy as shown by the diagram below.

The main thrust of this response to the STC(HC) Inquiry is the failure of the UK Government to address one of the main issues which could help the UK reach any and all of its emissions targets, promote new industry and jobs and be seen as a world leader in new technology. Despite a ministerial response stating at the LCV conference in Birmingham in September 2019 that the Government was “technology neutral” with respect to Hydrogen and FCEVs, it has and is doing nothing (or next to nothing) to promote the Hydrogen infrastructure in relation to transportation and in

particular the provision of Hydrogen Refuelling Stations (“HRS”). This approach is confirmed by there being no mention of Hydrogen Refuelling Stations in the Government’s “Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution”, and in particular at point 4, “Accelerating the Shift to Zero Emission Vehicles”, which only talks about Battery electric vehicles (“BEV”) and chargepoints at a cost of some £500m.
This is despite the recommendations on HRSs of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Hydrogen at pages 3, 22 & 24 in their July 2020 report. The persistent downplaying of the potential of Hydrogen in the transportation sphere is seen by many in the Hydrogen Industry as being potentially damaging for the UK’s industries and expertise in Hydrogen where they have established a world-leading status in research and initial projects that needs to be, and can be, translated into large-scale, but which is not being given the opportunity domestically.
This is especially so where only £20-30m, either by sole or matched funding, could fund 20-25 HRSs nationwide within a two year window (especially if using home grown expertise such as ITM Power or Logan Energy), meaning well over half the population would be within 25 miles of an HRS, the general standard applied by light vehicle manufacturers (e.g. Toyota, Hyundai) before they will sell an FCEV. Further, many of
these HRSs could be self-fuelled by wind or solar (as has already been done in Sheffield and Rainham) and/or could be sited in existing fuel stations, and in particular those of Shell (who have already set up such facilities at some petrol stations), and BP, both of whom have indicated a move, with large accompanying budgets, into Hydrogen.
This small investment would kickstart the change to the Hydrogen Economy, and within a short time period provide the infrastructure for people to be able to use FCEVs, meaning more incentive for them to buy FCEVs (especially given the advantages, such as range, refill time, more volume and less weight, etc), and provide incentives to fleet managers, supply chains and finance (to provide loans, leases, PCPs, etc for private funding of expansion/replacement). Most importantly it would provide an almost immediate optic for the public to see that change was happening and that a low/zero emission was a serious goal for the UK and its government. Further details of the nature and effect of the Hydrogen Economy may be obtained from earlier submissions by myself, and in particular those to the All Parliamentary Group on Hydrogen in mid-2020, which in turn incorporates (and links to) earlier more detailed responses about the Hydrogen Economy and FCEVs in general. These earlier submissions are still relevant because there has been little actual progress in the UK compared to other advanced economies who have explicit targets for HRSs and FCEVs (1000 and 1,000,000 respectively for Japan, China, EU, California with Korea setting 850 HRSs). Additionally linked to is an LEH2M article written for Fleet Vision International and to be published shortly, which is a good introduction (written for company fleet managers but applicable to all in the space) of the benefits of Hydrogen and why it is inevitable that the integrated nature of the Hydrogen Economy, and its
reach into all areas of the Economy generally, will mean that fleets will have to consider FCEVs within the next decade, provided the infrastructure is there.
Chandra Sekar
LEH2M
8 January 2021