Latest news from Loughborough University
14 September 2010 | PR 10/136
Revolutionary fuel cell powered car refuels at Loughborough University
Refuelling the FCX Clarity
Loughborough University will be playing host to Honda this week (15 September) when the car manufacturer will be bringing its fuel cell powered car to the campus to refuel at the University’s hydrogen refuelling station.
Honda has brought the ground-breaking hydrogen fuel cell car, the FCX Clarity, to the UK for the first time, to take part in a series of high profile test drives to raise awareness of the zero emission technology.
The refuelling station at the University’s Holywell Park was opened two years ago and it is part of a cluster of hydrogen refuelling stations set up across the region known as the Midlands Hydrogen Ring. The stations are at the heart of a hydrogen refuelling infrastructure planned throughout the UK.
Professor Rob Thring of the University’s Department of Aeronautical and Automotive Engineering comments: “The FCX Clarity has been specifically built to be powered by fuel cells and I am delighted to welcome Honda to Loughborough where they will be able to refuel the vehicle and share with us what could be the future of motoring.”
Dr Rupert Gammon, Visiting Researcher based in the University’s Innovation Centre and Chair of the British Midlands Hydrogen Forum, added: “Progress towards environmentally friendly motoring is gathering significant momentum and this region is at the heart if the movement.
“Here at Loughborough University in particular, we are dedicated to bringing zero emission technology to the motoring industry and the hydrogen refuelling station was installed on the campus to enable us to drive forward research in this area. It is therefore both very fitting and exciting that the revolutionary FCX Clarity is to make a refuelling stop here on its first visit to the UK.”
Honda’s FCX Clarity is a five-door saloon vehicle which emits no pollutants, only water vapours from the exhaust.
−ENDS−
For all media enquiries contact:
Debbie Hughes
Senior PR Officer
Loughborough University
T: 01509 228697
E: D.L.Hughes@lboro.ac.uk
Notes for editors:
- A photo call/filming opportunity to see Honda’s FCX Clarity be refuelled will take place at the hydrogen refueller at 1pm on Wednesday 15 September. Photographers/journalists are asked to leave their vehicles at the Sports Technology Institute car park (located at the West entrance to the campus off Ashby Road) and then walk the short distance to Holywell Park where the refueller is located. Please notify Debbie Hughes if you will be attending.
- The FCX Clarity press pack can be found at http://www.fcxclarity-media.co.uk
- Loughborough is one of the country’s leading universities, with an international reputation for research that matters, excellence in teaching, strong links with industry, and unrivalled achievement in sport and its underpinning academic disciplines.
It was awarded the coveted Sunday Times University of the Year 2008-09 title, and is consistently ranked in the top twenty of UK universities in national newspaper league tables. In the 2010 National Student Survey, Loughborough was voted one of the top universities in the UK, and has topped the Times Higher Education league for the UK’s Best Student Experience every year since the poll's inception in 2006. In recognition of its contribution to the sector, the University has been awarded six Queen's Anniversary Prizes.
Loughborough is also the UK’s premier university for sport. It has perhaps the best integrated sports development environment in the world and is home to some of the country’s leading coaches, sports scientists and support staff. It also has the country’s largest concentration of world-class training facilities across a wide range of sports.
It is a member of the 1994 Group of 19 leading research-intensive universities. The Group was established in 1994 to promote excellence in university research and teaching. Each member undertakes diverse and high-quality research, while ensuring excellent levels of teaching and student experience.