Ambulance service drives down emissions with hydrogen vans

AN AMBULANCE service is driving down carbon emissions with hydrogen-powered vans — and is working on a prototype hydrogen-electric ambulance.

Yorkshire Ambulance Service is the first in the country to introduce green support vehicles, with the aim of making its whole fleet as eco-friendly as possible.

The vans, which do not produce any emissions, are powered by electric motors using energy from the battery and a hydrogen fuel cell.

The battery recharges from a power supply and the hydrogen can be replenished at a refuelling station.

A vehicle from the non-emergency Patient Transport Service has also been converted to run on both diesel and hydrogen.

Harmful diesel emissions can be reduced by up to 70 percent through such a hydrogen injection system.

YAS has already put solar panels on more than 100 ambulances to keep their batteries charged.

It is working with green technology company ULEMCo to build the prototype, hydrogen-electric, zero-emission ambulance.

The service has also won several national awards for its environmental initiatives.

Alexis Percival, environmental and sustainability manager, said: “We are so excited to be the first ambulance service in the country, possibly the world, to have three hydrogen vehicles in our fleet.

“We also see the health benefits of cleaner air, as well as reducing our impact on climate change through the essential work that we carry out.”

YAS is supporting NHS Sustainability Day today (March 22) — an annual campaign to improve staff and patient health by reducing the environmental impact of healthcare.

Campaign manager Scott Buckler said: “It is very appropriate that the seventh annual NHS Sustainability Day should fall in the same year as the NHS turns 70.

“The two go hand in hand, as without sustainability, the NHS may not see its 100th birthday.

“Today is about celebrating our environment and how it helps us stay healthy.”