Ricardo Hydrogen Engine Development Facility

Delivery Body: Ricardo

Theme: Digital

Coast to Capital GBF Allocation: £240,000.00

Match Funding Contribution: £640,000.00

Project Status: Delivering

 

Summary of Project

This project will provide a hydrogen supply infrastructure designed to supply pressurised gas to the Ricardo Shoreham Technical Centre. Ricardo plan to recycle and reuse energy from existing research & development processes to supplement this supply; energy recovered by our regenerative test facilities used for vehicle powertrain and EV battery testing. In parallel with the proposed hydrogen infrastructure upgrade, Ricardo will enhance an existing test facility to enable it to be used for research and development tests on hydrogen-fuelled engines and powertrains.

The investment will unlock opportunities to support projects that require a capable and sustainable hydrogen supply, including automotive and commercial & industrial engine and future fuel-cell test applications. This will attract UK and European customers, who are showing considerable interest in this field. Typical development programme revenue would be c. £10m per project, we anticipate several such opportunities in the first 12months based on our current discussions with customers. In addition, there is significant local interest from companies such as Brighton Buses and Shoreham Port Authority for example, who are keen to deliver clean air quality solutions for town centre transportation and other urban environments.

Ricardo will continue to develop the skills of our existing and newly appointed Engineers through delivery of this facility and the resulting customer programmes. The capability will also enable us to continue and expand our training programme for Graduate Engineers and Technicians through Apprenticeship schemes.

 

Key Outputs

• 105 jobs
• 50 sqm of commercial floorspace
• 5 enterprises assisted to corporate with research institutions
• 5 enterprises supported to introduce new to market products
• 5 enterprises supported to introduce new to firm products
• 20 sqm of refurbished training space
• 8 apprentices
• 8 training for high value skills