First Hydrogen Corp’s Nicholas Wrigley will be guest speaker at Invest Africa’s roundtable discussion at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26).
COP26 is being held from October 31st through to November 12th, 2021 in Glasgow, Scotland. Mr. Wrigley is also a VIP guest at the reception to be held by the Department of International Trade (UK) and Formula E to be hosted at the summit in Glasgow.
Ambitious emissions reduction targets for 2030 have been set to achieve the goal of reaching net zero by the middle of the century. Fuel Cell (FC) and hydrogen propulsion are key enablers to support this net-zero future. The partnership between Ballard Power Systems Inc. (“Ballard”), AVL Powertrain UK (“AVL”) and First Hydrogen will work together in this partnership for zero-tailpipe emission technology going forward.
The project will develop and build two hydrogen fuel cell powered light commercial demonstrator vans for First Hydrogen that will be road legal and utilized to showcase the capabilities of fuel cell technology in its light commercial vehicles under development. This will provide First Hydrogen with a design and technology platform for future commercialisation.
Work has already started at AVL’s Engineering Centre Basildon UK , for delivery in Q3 of 2022. The vehicles will be equipped with the latest generation Ballard FCgen®-LCS fuel cell, giving the vehicles a range of more than 500 kilometres.
First Hydrogen has selected AVL because of its established expertise, collaborations, and knowhow. AVL is a strong partner for First Hydrogen in its strategy for hydrogen powered Fuel cell vehicle development. Some 25 UK based engineers in AVL will execute:
- FCS system specification, design, supplier selection and virtual integration. Including system matching (FC stack, compressor and battery).
- Balance of plant specification (BoP) and high-pressure hydrogen system specification,
- FCS calibration optimisation on test bed and in-vehicle
- Full vehicle packaging design and physical integration including vehicle commissioning
- Control module SW + HW development for fuel cell control unit, tank control unit, vehicle control unit.
- AVL Drive assessment for performance baseline, NVH / drivability
Drawing on additional support of 500 fuel cell experts globally, across three purpose-built fuel cell technical centres.
Nicholas Wrigley, Non-Executive Director/Chairman of First Hydrogen Limited: “We are delighted to be working with AVL and Ballard Power in this important partnership. Our mobility strategy consists of designing and building two prototype demonstrators using an existing EV platform. These demonstrators will be road legal in the UK and will both fast track our learning of the fuel cell mobility market and technology, and also provide our prospective customers will real time test beds for their future hydrogen mobility needs. We are also launching the design of a bespoke fuel cell platform for commercialisation of a fleet of vehicles including a range of delivery vans, taxis and medium sized trucks. These will be designed in the UK by the First Hydrogen team and built in the UK for the UK market and export. First Hydrogen is also assessing the viability of green hydrogen production in the UK and elsewhere to be able to provide its mobility customers with a full service, to include the fuel.”
Dr Bernadette Longridge, Engineering Centre Manager, AVL Powertrain UK: “The AVL team are proud to be working with the First Hydrogen team on delivering two hydrogen fuel cell demonstrator vehicles. This project is an opportunity to show case the advantages of Fuel cell technologies within the light commercial vehicle arena and is an important step to show the potential for fuel cells to support the goal of net zero by the middle of the century.”
About First Hydrogen Corp.
First Hydrogen Corp. is a Vancouver based company focused on zero-emission vehicles and supercritical carbon dioxide extractor systems. The company is designing and developing a hydrogen-fuel-cell-powered light commercial vehicle under two agreements with AVL Powertrain UK Ltd. and Ballard Power Systems Inc. having a range of 500+ kilometres. First Hydrogen will also offer fuel-cell-powered supercritical CO2 extraction systems that will allow users to operate the systems in remote locations where there are no electrical power grids available, or the electrical power is unstable. This already developed supercritical CO2 extraction system is fully operational and can be monitored and supported remotely by the company’s in-house fully integrated software operating system.
About AVL Powertrain Limited
With more than 11,000 employees, AVL is the world’s largest independent company for development, simulation and testing in the automotive industry, and in other sectors. Drawing on its pioneering spirit, the company provides concepts, solutions and methodologies to shape future mobility trends. AVL creates innovative and affordable technologies to effectively reduce CO2 by applying a multi-energy carrier strategy for all applications – from hybrid to battery electric and fuel cell technologies. The company supports customers throughout the entire development process from the ideation phase to serial production. To accelerate the vision of smart and connected mobility AVL has established competencies in the fields of ADAS, autonomous driving and digitalization. AVL’s passion is innovation. Together with an international network of experts that extends over 26 countries and with 45 Tech- and Engineering Centers worldwide, AVL drives sustainable mobility trends for a greener future. In 2020, the company generated a turnover of 1.7 billion Euros, of which 12% are invested in R&D activities
About Ballard Power Systems Inc.
Ballard is a leading global provider of innovative clean energy and fuel cell solutions. Ballard develops and manufactures proton exchange membrane fuel cell products for markets such as heavy-duty motive, portable power, material handling as well as providing technology solutions services.
