Metropolitan Police trials cutting edge hydrogen-powered scooters supported by the APC
In line with the Mayor of London’s work to tackle London’s toxic air, the Met’s Fleet Services will, from Monday, 4 September, trial seven Suzuki ‘Burgman Fuel Cell’, zero emission hydrogen scooters as part of its operational capability.
The Hydrogen Bikes are being developed as part of a project lead by Intelligent Energy, in association with Suzuki GB and Cenex, which is supported by the Advanced Propulsion Centre. The trial will last for 18 months and will enable us to assess their suitability for the various roles the scooters could perform. On a broader scale, it will help us to understand where this clean technology could be adopted across the fleet in the future.
The hydrogen fuel cell scooters will be used by Police Community Support Officers within the Roads and Transport Policing Command and will be based at Alperton Deployment Centre.
Project Deliver Lead, Josh Denne, for the Advanced Propulsion Centre, said:
Hydrogen and fuel cells are important technologies that could have an increasing role in the automotive industry. This real-world trial in a demanding application will allow the consortium to gather a detailed appraisal of the technology and assess it for future deployment, marking a step towards wider roll-out of fuel cell vehicles.
Commander Neil Jerome, for Territorial Policing, said:
Being the UK’s largest police service we constantly have vehicles on the roads and therefore it is our aim to make our fleet as clean as we can, whilst maintaining operational capability. We are thankful to Suzuki and our partners and look forward with optimism about this innovative and groundbreaking trial. Through collaborative partnerships and innovative testing such as this, we can gain real-life experience of how we can progress our ambition and create a cleaner fleet that will benefit London and the service we provide.
Suzuki GB Managing Director, Nobuo Suyama, expressed his gratitude to the fleet trial partners, saying:
Suzuki are extremely honoured to be able to showcase the Burgman Fuel Cell and gain valuable feedback from this important trial with the Met. Operational data from the trial will be gathered and used to support Suzuki zero emission vehicle development programmes. Deploying these vehicles into service with the Met marks a significant milestone in the extensive development of this ground-breaking technology. Being able to release the Suzuki Burgman Fuel Cell to the Met has only been made possible by the support of a number of technology partners; including Intelligent Energy Ltd, with whom Suzuki has jointly developed the Fuel Cell unit for the scooter.