The Business Exchange Swindon & Wiltshire Edition 25: June/July 2016 | Page 21

GOING
REVVED
GREEN
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HYUNDAI DEALERSHIP PEBLEY BEACH CELEBRATES
AS HYDROGEN RECORDS ARE SMASHED
Staff at Swindon’s Hyundai car dealership are celebrating after the marque’s
innovative hydrogen-powered car smashed two records. A specially-adapted ix35
powered by hydrogen fuel cells completed a record-breaking 6,096-mile unbroken
trip around the M25 during UK Hydrogen Week, stopping only to refuel.
It also travelled 400 miles on a single
tank of hydrogen – further than
any other fuel cell vehicle had ever
travelled.
The news has been welcomed by
Pebley Beach, which later this year
will become one of the first centres in
the UK to offer servicing on fuel cell
vehicles.
Korean manufacturer Hyundai was
first off the blocks in producing a car
powered by hydrogen.
And Pebley Beach has been
fielding enquiries from businesses
and organisations keen to get their
hands on a hydrogen-powered car
– especially after the records were
broken.
Managing director Dominic Threlfall
explained: “Hydrogen-powered cars

require special equipment, and very
specialist knowledge.
“As a Hyundai workshop with
three master technicians – the highest
qualification a mechanic can achieve –
we’re delighted to have been chosen
as one of the UK’s first hydrogen
centres.”
Under the bonnet of the speciallydesigned iX35 the hydrogen fuel cells
power a 134bhp electric motor that
drives the front wheels of the five-seat
SUV.
At the rear of the car, the tail pipe
emits nothing except water vapour.
The 5.6kg hydrogen tank provides
enough fuel for a trip of at least 300
miles. In the future, drivers will be
able to refuel at a filling station, as
they do with petrol and diesel cars.

Right now there are only a handful
of hydrogen filling stations in the UK –
and one is in Swindon, at the Honda’s
South Marston plant, with a second
station due to come online by the end
of 2016 at Junction 16 of the M4.
In fact, Swindon is becoming a
centre for Hydrogen technology.
Johnson Matthey Fuel Cells, a
global business dedicated to the
supply of high quality fuel cell
components, opened in the town in
2003.
And Swindon Borough Council has
formed the Swindon Hydrogen Hub,
a forum of businesses – including
Pebley Beach – working together to
ensure Swindon’s place at the centre
of the hydrogen revolution.

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THE BUSINESS EXCHANGE 2016

21