Fleet Transport June 2020

meetings, like the rest of the economy,
managed to keep the project on track. Of
course COVID-19 will have a huge impact
on State finances and large environmental
projects such as this necessarily rely fairly
heavily on levels of State supports, in their
early stages when costs tend to be very
high and commercial income very low.
And yet this pandemic has prompted many
commentators to observe that we may not
wish to go back to what we did before. In a
post-pandemic world there is likely to be even
stronger support to drive for greater progress
on the environment and at a quicker pace.
In the Government formation talks there
is a particular focus on the level of annual
CO 2
savings that can actually be achieved
within a few years.
The HMI group has also been keeping an
eye on the increasing commitment of vehicle
manufacturers to deliver an increasing range
of vehicles into the market over the next
few years, intent on ensuring that Ireland
can capture a good initial share of such
vehicles, as they become available, and
that can deliver benefits at an early stage in
this game-changing transition to a greener
transport sector. Indeed a first sight of
Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles operating on
the road in Ireland had been planned for
this year, with two separate trials involving
a number of buses on routes in the Dublin
area. As with every other aspect of life,
COVID-19 considerations have impacted
on the practical delivery of this and the
dates will have to change somewhat. These
will happen in the months ahead, (subject to
many health and logistical considerations).
Watch out for further news in due course.
Of course these vehicles can only operate
commercially on the road when Hydrogen
production is up and running with a network
of refuelling stations in place to service
them. The HMI implementation project
is currently in development with a phased
spread of refuelling from an initial cluster
of stations in the Dublin area, followed by
a presence in the other major cities and the
larger towns and intermediate locations. The
strategy is based on ‘normalising’ this fuel
as quickly as possible by replicating the type
of refuelling coverage that exists for fossil
fuel vehicles. While all of this may sound
ambitious, the current aim is to see each of
these phases as a three year process so that
from the first stations in place from 2022
should see a national network operating just
a few years later. If it can be delivered within
H2. City Gold
Hyundai history fuel cell technology ulsan
Hyundai history fuel cell technology ix35 stack
that planned timescale, a future of green
transport is within touching distance. In
the meantime back-stage preparations will
continue for a grand opening for Hydrogen
transport in Ireland.
ALTERNATIVE | 11
Text: Alan Nolan
www.fleet.ie