Rivus is trialling a fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) from First Hydrogen to get insights on the benefits and practicality of hydrogen as an alternative fuel.

Rivus will use the hydrogen fuel cell LCV over the next month to measure vehicle performance on real-life duty cycles

The ‘first-of-its-kind’ light commercial vehicle (LCV) has been delivered to Rivus’ Support Centre in Birmingham, where First Hydrogen’s engineers familiarised the Rivus team with the vehicle.

The LCV will be driven for the next month on selected routes and over varied terrain around the Birmingham and South Yorkshire areas. It will carry payloads of various sizes to measure vehicle performance on real-life duty cycles, capturing data on fuel consumption, mileage and vehicle efficiency.

The trials are being used to inform development of First Hydrogen’s Generation II series, currently in development, and will help optimise vehicle configuration and enhance Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) data.

The trials will also enable Rivus to produce its own independent analysis of the performance of First Hydrogen’s hydrogen-powered LCV, providing its customers with real-life data on the benefits and practicality of hydrogen as an alternative fuel.

Thomas Maerz, chief development officer at Rivus, said: “Our Alternative Fuel team are eager to see how the fuel cell LCV performs. We have designed several routes and duty cycles, which will test how vehicles run under different driving conditions; First Hydrogen’s LCV will be undertaking the same exercises we have completed with BEV and ICE vehicles allowing us to deliver accurate assessments on performance to our customers. We can’t wait to get started!”

Safety is also a major factor in the trials and alongside driver briefings and familiarisations,

First Hydrogen has also installed GPS and safety technology using a cloud-based system enabling its engineers to access information on the vehicle’s use, location and status in real-time.

Rivus is the first fleet management user to start the operational tests with First Hydrogen, which has co-ordinated the trials with the UK Aggregated Hydrogen Freight Consortium (AHFC). A total 16 major fleet operators from industries including grocery, delivery, utilities, and healthcare have already registered an interest in taking part in the 12- to 18-month vehicle evaluation.

Steve Gill, CEO Automotive at First Hydrogen, said: “We hope that the team at Rivus will enjoy putting our vehicle through its paces and experiencing first-hand how zero-emission technology can perform in vehicles of this size. Rivus is experienced in working with fleet vehicles and supporting fleet managers every day. We trust that their feedback will help us to make improvements and help us to create a zero-emission mobility solution that meets fleet managers’ demands.”