Yorkshire Water has converted a 7.5 tonne tanker to run on hydrogen as part of a 10-year plan to decarbonise its vehicle fleet and cut carbon emissions across the company.
The business is developing a plan to introduce electric vehicles, compressed-natural gas- (CNG) and hydrogen- powered vehicles to cut its overall carbon emissions.
The standard large good vehicle (LGV) clean water tanker now uses hydrogen dual fuel, which reduces carbon by 33 per cent compared to diesel.
The converted hydrogen vehicle is the first in the water industry and will allow the fleet manager to transition more rapidly to low carbon operation.
The water sector, coordinated by Water UK, pledged to reduce its carbon emissions to net zero by 2030 as part of the Public Interest Commitments (PIC) made last year. The PIC is championed by Northumbrian’s Heidi Mottram and Anglian’s Peter Simpson – who also co-chairs a climate change group called CLG, which is calling on all businesses to consider the environmental impact of their actions in a post-lockdown environment.
Last year Yorkshire achieved an 80 per cent reduction in operational emissions compared to 2005 after working to lower rates for the past six years.
Last month Severn Trent announced it will install 352 charging points for electric vehicles over the coming 18 months as part of plans to electrify its fleet by 2030.