Energy Company Claims First Hydrogen EV Charger

Greg Hyde

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17th January 2019

A UK energy company claims to have carried out the world’s first successful demonstration of a hydrogen fuel-cell electric vehicle charger.

AFC Energy claims the CH₂ARGE charger is “100% emissions free” and will not have to drain electrical power from the UK’s National Grid. The company claims it will “enable 100% clean electricity for future EV charging”, having taken ten years to research and develop.

AFC says it plans to make the CH₂ARGE commercially available, having “demonstrated proof-of-concept”. It says the fuel cell is “connected to an inverter similar to those used by Toyota at their EV research center”. This inverter purportedly carries the energy the cell creates to the charger.

The company says the tech will enable power for EVs to be “locally generated”, removing the infrastructural pressure on the National Grid it argues would take hold if the government’s target of EVs constituting 50% of new car sales by 2030 was met. It says the CH₂ARGE is scalable, allowing multiple EVs to be charged concurrently at public locations like sports arenas and retail parks.

The demo was carried out on a BMW i8 and took place at Dunsfold Aerodrome outside Guildford, south-east England. AFC CEO Adam Bond claimed the company wishes “to lead the way not only in solving the challenges of increased demand for electricity, but also doing so in a zero-emissions approach”.