ULEMCo signs Luxfer to hydrogen storage deal after decade of builds

ULEMCo, the Liverpool-based hydrogen vehicle specialist, and Luxfer Gas Cylinders, a Nottingham manufacturer of high-pressure storage vessels, announced on 3 July that they have formalised a strategic collaboration on hydrogen storage for heavy-duty transport, off-road equipment, marine and rail. The agreement puts a formal framework around a working relationship stretching back more than a decade.

Road sweepers, refuse trucks, and a prototype ambulance

Over the past 10 years, ULEMCo and Luxfer have worked together on hydrogen-powered trucks, light goods vehicles, road sweepers, a prototype ambulance, and what ULEMCo described as the UK's first dual-fuel refuse truck - a vehicle running on a combination of hydrogen and hydrotreated vegetable oil. In Aberdeen, a fleet of 9 hydrogen dual-fuel road sweepers used Luxfer's G-Stor H2 Type 3 cylinders, with one unit displacing half its diesel consumption with hydrogen across both the drive engine and auxiliary vacuum motor.

The formalised deal extends that joint work into new sectors including off-road construction equipment, marine vessels, and rail.

ULEMCo's third formal partnership in just over a year

Luxfer is the third collaboration ULEMCo has formalised since mid-2025. The company signed an MoU with Protium - a UK green hydrogen producer - to supply fuel to transport customers across Wales and southern England, and agreed a separate MoU with Exogen Hydrogen Solutions, a Bulgarian hydrogen infrastructure developer, to take its dual-fuel technology and HyTANKa mobile refuelling system into international markets.

ULEMCo closed a £5 million-plus funding round in 2024, led by Mercia Ventures, to support the commercialisation of its hydrogen dual-fuel, fuel cell, and combustion engine technologies.

"This collaboration with Luxfer strengthens our ability to deliver integrated hydrogen solutions at scale," Amanda Lyne, ULEMCo's managing director, said. "By aligning our capabilities, we can provide customers with efficient, safe and proven systems that support the transition to zero-emission transport."

100,000 cylinders across 18,000 vehicles

Luxfer says it has more than 100,000 fuel cylinders deployed across 18,000 vehicles globally, including integration work on Hyundai's Xcient fuel cell trucks in Switzerland. The company manufactures both Type 3 (aluminium-lined, carbon-fibre-wrapped) and Type 4 (polymer-lined, carbon-fibre-wrapped) hydrogen cylinders at its Nottingham site, where it invested more than £1 million in a purpose-built alternative fuel production facility.

In the onboard hydrogen storage market, Luxfer competes with Hexagon Purus, a Norwegian specialist that supplies fuel storage systems to Toyota's hydrogen powertrains, and NPROXX, a hydrogen storage tank manufacturer operating from sites in Germany and the UK. Forvia - the French automotive supplier formerly known as Faurecia - is another established player at the heavier end of commercial vehicle storage.

"We've worked with ULEMCo for more than a decade, sharing a vision to advance hydrogen-powered transport," Keith Croysdale, Luxfer's business development manager, said. "Together, we are making it easier for customers to deploy safe, proven hydrogen storage solutions in new and emerging transport applications."

Dual-fuel now, zero-emission next

ULEMCo operates across both hydrogen fuel cell and hydrogen internal combustion engine platforms, with a product range running from dual-fuel retrofits - which reduce diesel consumption using existing engines - through fuel cell range extenders to pure hydrogen combustion powertrains. The formalised agreement with Luxfer is designed to pair that integration work with proven storage hardware as emissions regulations for heavy-duty vehicles and off-road machinery tighten across Europe.