Published August 2022; Updated January 2023

Bringing the discussion of future mobility home to Birmingham, a key Commonwealth Games event this month explored some of the major issues involved and engaged leading UK climate tech businesses. The event featured a panel of leading players in the sector, including Adelan. As the UK’s Mission Innovation Hydrogen Champion, Adelan CEO and Co-founder Dr Kendall highlighted the benefits that transforming transport can bring.

The Commonwealth Games Future Mobility Automotive Sector Day event shone a spotlight on the next generation of transport technology and the UK’s vital role in the transport transition by bringing together policymakers and business leaders from across the Commonwealth.  The unique role Adelan played in the Games transport innovation and sustainability was highlighted by the Organising Committee here.

Birmingham is already the acknowledged heart of the UK’s automotive manufacturing sector and many of the world’s largest players are not only operating in the region, but are also ramping up their investment in low-emission and electric vehicle manufacturing capabilities.

A leading developer of clean, portable fuel cell systems and the UK’s longest-running fuel cell technology business, Adelan joins companies like ZF Group, Mahle, GKN and Jaguar Land Rover in building up the EV supply chain in the West Midlands. With all eyes on Birmingham for the Commonwealth Games, the UK House Future Mobility session at the Exchange Building was a key event to showcase the region and its role in establishing the UK as a leading powerhouse in clean mobility solutions.

Dr Kendall joined Margot James, Chair of the Warwick Manufacturing Group, alongside Tony Harper, Challenge Director of the Faraday Battery Challenge, and Will Drury, Challenge Director of Driving the Electric Revolution, in an in-depth exploration of every opportunity and challenge associated with the forthcoming transport revolution.

“Bringing together industry leaders in this high-profile panel discussion is a perfect way to showcase the scope of future mobility. With transport responsible for around a fifth of total global greenhouse gas emissions it’s vital that we make every effort to clean up the sector. However, disruption brings both challenge and opportunity,” said Dr Kendall ahead of the panel discussion.

“With the Commonwealth Games underway this week, it’s definitely Birmingham in first place to lead the UK’s drive for zero-emission transport. The wealth of engineering experience, the highly-skilled workforce and the burgeoning electrification supply chain put the region head and shoulders above the competition,” she added.

Adelan’s hydrogen-ready fuel cell technologies are central to the transformation of transport as they enable the transition to cleaner fuels to take place before the full-scale green hydrogen infrastructure needed is in place. This can put green vehicles on the first rung of the ladder while resolving all the range anxiety issues that are typically associated with battery EVs.

The panel discussion took place during Session 1 of the Commonwealth Games Future Mobility Automotive Sector Day event on Thursday 4^th August and the highlights can be found here.

A major trade event also took place at UK House: The Commonwealth Business Hub, The Exchange, Centenary Square.

To discover exactly how Adelan can support your clean transport needs or deploy their clean, quiet and reliable energy system for remote, mobile or any other applications, please contact Dr Kendall and the rest of the Adelan team at:

Adelan Ltd
15 Weekin Works, 112-116 Park Hill Road, Birmingham B17 9HD (UK)
info@adelan.co.uk
Tel: +44 (0)121 427 8033

Published July 2022

Hydrogen-fuelled HGVs could become a key part of the UK’s logistics chain as H2GVMids and Adelan bring together all of the elements of a 44-tonne fuel cell truck and the chance of a super success story for the Midlands.

Clean, hydrogen-fuelled heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) built around fuel cell technology could soon become a reality with a huge new industry centred on the UK’s industrial heartlands. With fuel cell technology well-proven and markets rapidly scaling, new analysis from fuel cell innovators Adelan concludes that there is a strong potential for the clean HGV sector to add massive economic value to the UK’s Midlands.

Adelan is one of the key players in H2GVMids, a demonstration programme for hydrogen-fuelled 44-tonne trucks. In the first phase of the project, the fuel cell technology leader undertook a supply chain analysis of the region’s industrial manufacturing capabilities. The analysis looked at all the components and infrastructure necessary for a 44-tonne fuel cell truck, including hydrogen refuelling stations. Covering seven core systems with seventy-six components, the analysis confirms that the economy of the Midlands region is already dominated by automotive activity which currently supports over 293,000 jobs.

Some 16 of the world’s 20 largest automotive suppliers already have an operating base in the Midlands and are steadily moving into the clean transportation space with top-tier automotive suppliers like ZF Group, Mahle and GKN operating electric vehicle platforms and OEMs like Jaguar Land Rover now looking to localise battery production.

A net-zero approach to HGV transport will lock in regional jobs and economic growth, securing an estimated 8,000 more jobs in the region by 2030 and around £1 billion of growth. A move into the hydrogen economy is expected to add a further £3.3 billion of economic growth and another 14,000 new hydrogen production and fuel cell manufacturing jobs by 2035.

With around 120,000 large HGVs currently registered in the UK they represent a significant source of pollution as well as close to 4% of all domestic transport carbon emissions. The Department for Transport has suggested that fossil-fuelled HGVs are phased out no later than 2040 and with the end of diesel trucks in sight, the UK will inevitably see a big change with more focus on EVs and hydrogen-powered vehicles.

Under these circumstances, Adelan predicts that there will be around 14,000 hydrogen-fuelled HGVs operating on UK roads within this decade. Given the strong demand in the UK and EU, there is excellent market potential for clean HGV manufacturing in the Midlands and wider UK.

“With the region sitting at the heart of the UK’s freight and logistics sector, its strong engineering heritage, embedded industrial capacity and know-how, the Midlands is ideally placed to build upon its existing automotive infrastructure. Establishing a connected industry able to lead the UK in the successful transition to hydrogen-powered HGVs and other clean vehicles is key to maximising the economic and environmental benefits that are achievable from our sustainable transport future,” said Dr Michaela Kendall, CEO and co-founder of Adelan.

Working alongside partner organisations including Arcola Energy, EdF, Toyota, Intelligent Energy and ITM Motive, Horiba-Mira, MDST, ITM, University of Birmingham, and the University of Nottingham, Adelan is also developing the business case and delivery system for hydrogen HGVs. The partnership will now prepare the ground for a green-HGV industry based in the Midlands.

“EDF along with its partners have successfully completed the H2GVMids project which has detailed the pre-deployment considerations for a hydrogen fuel cell truck trial in the Midlands. Adelan’s hydrogen industry expertise was leveraged for the project in mapping out the supply chain for hydrogen fuel cell trucks across the Midlands and identifying the regional growth opportunities,” says Rebecca Rosling, Head of R&D Smart Customers at EDF.

Establishing a trial lease system of fuel cell heavy goods vehicles for operators and a cost assessment for the delivery of a 100+ truck scale demonstrator with logistics and delivery routes running across the Midlands are significant elements of this strategy to bring hydrogen-powered heavy goods vehicles to the UK’s roads.

“If we are to meet our net-zero goal – and we must – emissions from hard-to-reach sectors like heavy goods vehicles must be addressed. The flexibility, efficiency and capabilities of fuel cell technology make them an ideal solution to replace the internal combustion engine,” says Dr Kendall.

“The Midlands is at the heart of automotive manufacturing. Businesses in the region have an opportunity to work together to engineer the decarbonisation of HGVs and other road vehicles using hydrogen and low-carbon fuels. During the H2GVMids project, Adelan and the Midlands Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Network partners identified that the region can, not only innovate these vehicles, but critically 85% of the truck can already be sourced from this unique UK ecosystem. Net Zero products are one of the largest opportunities for growth for UK manufacturing,” said Stephen Phipson, Make UK CEO.

With funding from the Department for Transport’s Zero Emission Road Freight programme and administered by Innovate UK, H2GVMids is part of a wider government-backed programme of hydrogen transport demonstration projects.

Dr Kendall concludes: “Tackling the emissions coming from the tailpipes of the heaviest vehicles on the UK’s roads is an extraordinary challenge. While it is clear that fuel cells and hydrogen are up to the task, we have a real opportunity to achieve the levelling up agenda by ensuring that those solutions are manufactured from the heart of the UK.”

To discover exactly how Adelan can support your clean transport needs or deploy their clean, quiet and reliable energy system for remote, mobile or any other applications, please contact Dr Kendall and the rest of the Adelan team at:

Adelan Ltd
15 Weekin Works, 112-116 Park Hill Road, Birmingham B17 9HD (UK)
info@adelan.co.uk
Tel: +44 (0)121 427 8033

Published July 2022

Fuel cell pioneer, Adelan, has secured funding for a feasibility study that will help to build on UK electric vehicle technology innovation to ramp up manufacturing capacity and associated economic value. The project, backed by the £1 billion UK Automotive Transformation Fund (ATF), aims to establish the business case for a substantial uptick of investment in UK automotive manufacturing.

Created to support large-scale industrialisation of the electric vehicle supply chain, the initial focus of the ATF is on companies involved in fuel cells and batteries as well as other key parts of the supply chain, such as power electronics.

Under the Feasibility Study 3 programme, Birmingham-based Adelan, the UK’s oldest fuel cell company, leads a project to build UK capacity for fuel cell manufacture for the
automotive sector. The team will work to build sustainable supply chains using the aerospace expertise in supply chain management and coordination, building on prior experience of scaling-up manufacturing capabilities of Adelan fuel cells. Demonstrating the economies of scale on fuel cell manufacturing costs will dispel some of the misinformation propagated around the cost of fuel cells compared to incumbent technologies like diesel combustion, building customer confidence and accelerating market penetration.

Many of the world’s largest automotive suppliers already have an operating base in the
Midlands region and are building up their EV capabilities. Midlands-based top-tier
automotive suppliers and vehicle manufacturers such as ZF Group, Mahle, GKN and Jaguar Land Rover are investing in ramping up the EV supply chain and fuel cell companies like Adelan are central to their transformation of transport.

“The Midlands is the acknowledged heart of automotive manufacturing here in the UK and as we establish the foundations for sustainable transport, we have a real opportunity to maximise the value of the transport revolution here in the UK. With the help of the Manufacturing Technology Centre, this feasibility study will help us to scale up fuel cell manufacturing from 100s of units to the 100s of thousands of units needed,” says Dr Michaela Kendall, Adelan CEO.

A key part of efforts to reach the goals set out in the government’s 10-point plan for a green industrial revolution and its Transport Decarbonisation Plan, the ATF aims to create a high-value end-to-end electrified automotive supply chain by supporting strategically important capital and R&D investments across the sub-tier components and materials sector. UK businesses can, for example, apply for a share of up to £15 million from the Scale-up Readiness Validation (SuRV) fund for low-carbon technology like fuel cells. The opportunity for the UK upstream EV technology supply chain has a value of at least £24 billion, according to the ATF.

“Transport of people and goods contributes a significant proportion of UK carbon emissions. We must develop zero-emission alternatives to fossil fuels for transport and fuel cells are a real game-changer for transport and a whole host of other applications. Net-zero products must become a target for UK manufacturing and businesses in the Midlands have a real opportunity to work together and engineer the decarbonisation of vehicles using hydrogen and low carbon fuels,” says Stephen Phipson, CEO of UK manufacturing organisation Make UK.

This latest study from the ATF and Adelan builds on the recent H2GVMids project which
explored the capacity of Midlands-based manufacturing to supply the components necessary for a hydrogen fuelled 44-tonne heavy goods vehicle. That study revealed that 85% of the supply chain already exists in the region and that ramping up capacity to manufacture fuel cells at scale could increase that figure to 90% or even 95% of the total value proposition.

“The EV supply chain clearly represents a significant investment opportunity for the UK and the Midlands in particular. We can really build on our strengths to create a global powerhouse that will drive the transformation of transport worldwide and our sustainable future. It’s really now or never, we need to ask ourselves if the UK can afford not to invest in hydrogen and the related technologies we need like fuel cells,” added Dr Kendall.

“Technologies like the fuel cells manufactured by Adelan can support the UK in its transition towards a low-carbon transport system. This will require a high-tech and integrated manufacturing environment and a supporting supply chain.  We need to support the development of this to create growth and provide opportunities for UK companies to establish themselves as manufacturers in the fuel cells market and to capitalise on the technological advancements developed in the UK. At the MTC we understand the need for streamlining and automating assembly lines and we support this through design for manufacturing reviews and working through strategic partnerships.

“We’re very much looking forward to working with industry leaders like Dr Kendall to make sure the Midlands retains its key role in the UK manufacturing sector,” said Huw Sullivan of the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC).

“If we are to maximise the economic and environmental benefits from our home-grown
technology breakthroughs, scaling up manufacturing capacity is a fundamental requirement. We’re based in the Midlands and so fully understand the great strengths of the region’s engineering skills base and our experience in supply chains, design for manufacturing (DfM) and manufacturing techniques perfectly positions us to support that process. ANT Industries is incredibly proud to work with fuel cell pioneers like Adelan to develop the net zero technologies of the future and deliver them into people’s homes and businesses,” said Shaun Rowley, Managing Director at ANT Industries.

To discover exactly how Adelan can support your clean transport needs or deploy their clean, quiet and reliable energy system for remote, mobile or any other applications, please contact Dr Kendall and the rest of the Adelan team at:

Adelan Ltd
15 Weekin Works, 112-116 Park Hill Road, Birmingham B17 9HD (UK)
info@adelan.co.uk
Tel: +44 (0)121 427 8033