The new hydrogen station was supplied by ITM Power and is the first of three Shell plans to open in this country during 2017 alone.
“Hydrogen has the potential to become a clean and versatile transport fuel for the future, and the Cobham site is one of the ways Shell is encouraging [its use] to contribute to the energy transition,” states Matthew Tipper, vice president, future fuels at Shell.
“This will provide customers with hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles the ability to refuel simply and quickly, at one of the largest petrol stations in the UK,” he adds.
Tipper says Shell’s first UK hydrogen site follows the success of sites in California, and in Germany where Shell is part of a joint venture and expects to open a network of up to 400 hydrogen sites by 2023.
Shell is also assessing the potential of projects in the United States, Canada, Switzerland, Austria, France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.
Hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles convert hydrogen into electricity and produce only heat and water when driven.
They can typically drive up to 700 km without refuelling and can be refuelled in a few minutes at a standard forecourt with a hydrogen pump.
The hydrogen is generated on-site using an electrolyser, which requires only water and electricity to generate the hydrogen gas.
The hydrogen station at Cobham is the third hydrogen site in the UK to be supplied by ITM Power and opened as part of the HyFive project, partially funded by the European Fuel Cell, Hydrogen Joint Undertaking, and the UKs Office of Low Emission Vehicles.