Guidance

Construction and use of hydrogen-powered vehicles

Published 1 April 2009

This guidance was withdrawn on 27 October 2021

This guidance is no longer current, later vehicle standard information is available.

Construction and use of hydrogen-powered vehicles regulations

For a vehicle to be used on the public roads in Great Britain, it must comply with insurance, licensing (tax) and registration requirements. It must also comply with applicable construction regulations. Primarily these are the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986 (as amended) and the Road Vehicles Lighting Regulations 1989 (as amended).

Regulation 94 (2) of the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986 (C&U) has particular relevance in that it effectively prevents the use of vehicles propelled by Hydrogen:

No person shall use, or cause or permit to be used, in any gas supply system for the propulsion of a vehicle when the vehicle is on a road any fuel except liquefied petroleum gas”.

Vehicles used for tests or trials

Although GB legislation does not allow the general use of hydrogen powered vehicles, it is possible for an order made under section 44 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 to permit their use as prototypes, for tests, trials or demonstrations.

One suchoOrder is the Road Vehicles (Authorisation of Special Types) (General) Order 2003 Statutory Instrument No. 1998 (known as the STGO). This authorises the use of vehicles for tests or trials which do not comply with all requirements of the Construction and Use Regulations. See articles 36 to 40 and schedule 11 of the STGO

This may permit the testing and demonstration of hydrogen vehicles on public roads. However, strict conditions apply. No official ‘permit’ or ‘authorisation’ is required, but the restrictions must be observed at all times. One of the significant ones in relation to hydrogen powered vehicles is likely to be that a vehicle must not be used in such a way as to cause a danger of injury to any person by reason of the condition of the vehicle, its accessories or equipment (Schedule 11, paragraph 4(a)).

Manufacturers should register such vehicles with the DVLA as a prototype and this may mean that special conditions apply.

Should the STGO provisions not cover the vehicles intended use, applications may be submitted to the Department for Transport for an individual Vehicle Special Order (VSO). Generally, an individual Order would only be granted if it was not possible to comply with the provisions contained in the STGO. The reasons for non compliance with the STGO should therefore accompany any application submitted. There are no formal application forms but details of how to apply for an order are available.

For consideration to be given to authorising the use of a hydrogen powered vehicle by means of a VSO, a very robust safety case would need to be submitted. Generally, we would consider compliance with the relevant safety requirements of EC legislation to demonstrate a sufficient safety case (the European commission are due to publish ‘implementing measures’ to supplement the regulation already published on the type approval of hydrogen fuel systems.) Until those implementation measures are in force, we would also generally consider compliance with the draft UN-ECE proposals which form the basis of the European legislation to demonstrate a sufficient safety case. Compliance with other equivalent standards or legislation might be sufficient to demonstrate the necessary safety case.

Generally we would be prepared to accept, as part of an application for an individual order, a statement that the vehicle complies with a particular standard in respect of safety. Consequently, it may not be necessary to submit evidence of compliance with the application but we may, of course, seek more information from the applicant if we consider it necessary.

Whether or not a vehicle met a particular standard, we will place great importance in considering whether to grant the authorisation on the robustness of the safety case.

The EU regulation is at:

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2009:035:0032:0046:EN:PDF

This was based on the requirements developed for two proposed UN-ECE Regulations. The first, in respect of liquid hydrogen, can be found at:

http://www.unece.org/trans/doc/2003/wp29grpe/TRANS-WP29-GRPE-2003-14e.pdf

http://www.unece.org/trans/doc/2003/wp29grpe/TRANS-WP29-GRPE-2003-14a1e.pdf

And the second, in respect of compressed gaseous hydrogen, at:

http://www.unece.org/trans/doc/2004/wp29grpe/TRANS-WP29-GRPE-2004-03e.pdf

http://www.unece.org/trans/doc/2004/wp29grpe/TRANS-WP29-GRPE-2004-03a1e.pdf

For further information, a brief overview of the EU regulation is available.

The department will, in considering whether to grant the application, have regard to whether the measures in place for refuelling and storage of fuel provide for a sufficient level of safety. We may consult with HSE on this issue as it has responsibilities in this area. An applicant should therefore take into account any relevant HSE guidance and refer to this in any application.

Type Approval

The absence of a complete set of European hydrogen safety standards means that such vehicles cannot currently obtain type approval (regardless of whether the hydrogen obtained for propelling the vehicle comes from on-board storage or a fuel cell). Nevertheless, there are provisions set out in Article 20 of the EC Type Approval Framework Directive (2007/46/EC) to exempt new technologies or concepts where they are incompatible with the legislation.

This directive is being implemented into domestic law. Further information on type approval can be obtained from the Vehicle Certification Agency (VCA), who would be able to assist in taking such an application forward but before doing so, a very robust safety justification would need to be provided.

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