Motive Fuels has announced the closure of two hydrogen fuelling stations, both in London, as it refocuses its core business of providing hydrogen refuelling for large commercial vehicles powered by hydrogen fuel cells.
The sites at Rainham and Teddington will close on May 26.
Motive Fuels has invested over £2m a year since 2019 in light vehicle fuelling stations, which are designed to mainly serve cars, but the company believes that demand for hydrogen for fuel cell powered cars is currently not strong enough to sustain these pumps and wants to focus on non-car markets in the near future.
Known for supplying green hydrogen, described as the cleanest fuel for emissions available to vehicles in the UK, Motive Fuels will continue to operate its stations in Birmingham and Sheffield and the company will now look to develop new refuelling sites for large vehicles, which it anticipates will take greater benefits from hydrogen than passenger vehicles in the short to medium term.
The UK Hydrogen Strategy, launched in 2021, expects hydrogen to be in common use in heavier transport modes, including HGVs, construction, buses and rail, along with early stage uses in commercial shipping and aviation by 2030. The strategy’s analysis shows there could be up to 6TWh demand for low carbon hydrogen from transport by 2030, with the emphasis on commercial, large and off-highway vehicles.
Motive Fuels’ medium term plan is to focus on these markets and it will seek to install new fuelling stations in selected sites across the UK. The company recently announced a partnership with truck company Tevva to supply green hydrogen fuel to Tevva’s trucks, from its fixed and mobile fuelling stations. Motive will take delivery of a new mobile refueller to support large vehicle fleets in the coming weeks.
“Following a recent review of our station performance we do not see sufficient demand to support the investment needed to continue the station operation,” said commercial director, James Cross. “The closure of these sites reflects their small footprints, and that they are the first-of-a-kind prototype facilities. Learning from this has allowed us to improve our future network.
“We regret any inconvenience that this will cause our customers but we intend to deploy new sites in the future when the business case is there. We ask people to be patient as we remain devoted to decarbonising transportation while keeping our business sustainable.” One alternative location is still available for refuelling hydrogen fuel users in London and can be found on the H2live App.
