Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust will be the first UK ambulance service to adopt hydrogen vehicles, after securing grant funding from the Office of Low Emission Vehicles for two hydrogen-powered fuel cell electric vehicles.
The vehicles are Renault Kangoo electric-hydrogen hybrids, with a range of 200 miles on hydrogen and a further 100 miles on electric. They will be refuelled at the ITM Power plc refuelling station in Sheffield – the only such station in Yorkshire at present.
Alexis Keech, environmental and sustainability manager for the Trust, says: “This grant funding is truly a game changer… Not only does this grant allow us to reduce the carbon footprint of our organisation and contribute to the government’s work to reduce toxic emissions, it will also reduce our fuel costs meaning we can reinvest the savings into frontline services and patient care.”