THE University of Sunderland’s Institute for Automotive and Manufacturing Advanced Practice (AMAP) has created a prototype car - with an engine adapted to mix hydrogen with traditional fuel to demonstrate the technology as part of a project with Gateshead College.

The purpose of AMAP’s research is to reduce the damage caused by fossil fuels in cars, with their harmful impact on health and the environment. Early findings of the hydrogen-fuelled vehicle in action have revealed reductions in environmental impact and improvements in fuel economy.

Roger O’Brien, Director of AMAP at the University of Sunderland added: “The relatively low cost of the conversion suggests that this may prove a viable option for cleaning up petrol tailpipe emissions. We are considering combining this with other technologies in future to provide for methods of switching to lower emission regimes in urban and city centre areas -where stop-start driving is even more polluting. There are still infrastructure issues of course, but for fleet operators, who are doing routes from a central hub or depot, the technology we have used could be a deployable solution very quickly and easily.

“Oil and gas are dominant fuels in the energy and transport sectors, benefiting from regular investment in research and development. Funding to research and test alternative solutions, particularly hydrogen is scarcer, despite its potential economic and environmental benefits. There is still a long way to go to bring about such changes to the vehicles we all drive, and another project we are working on with EU partners called Hyacinth is looking at social acceptability of some of these new technologies. It is an area AMAP is heavily involved in."