H2 refuelling station opens at HUM in Swindon
The first open-access hydrogen station in the UK has officially opened today at the Honda of the UK Manufacturing Ltd site in Swindon, near the M4 motorway. The station, the outcome of a project involving three partners – BOC, Honda and Forward Swindon (an economic development company) – has the capability to operate at 350 and 700 bar pressure. It can fuel cars, buses and small commercial vehicles, and provides a link in a network of smaller scale hydrogen hubs based around academic research centres.
Among the many innovations of the new station is that it can fill vehicles ‘back-to-back’ from a bank of hydrogen cylinders. This means that vehicles can be filled one after another without having to wait for more hydrogen to be generated.
Another feature is the design: it looks just like a conventional filling station and the time to fill a vehicle is comparable with conventional fuels. The Honda FCX Clarity, for example, takes less than five minutes.
(This article compiled using information from a Honda UK Media press release)
