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The hydrogen fuel-cell dream has receded even further after BP demolished the only public hydrogen filling station in the UK.
The facility in Hornchurch, Essex, had been built to fuel hydrogen-powered London buses, but was left without any customers after the three-year bus trial ended earlier this year.
"We always knew this had an end date," said a BP spokesman of the £4.5 million facility. However, some members of the local council - who initially vetoed the construction plan over safety fears - claimed not to know it was only temporary. "The lack of longevity to this project was held from us when we discussed the matter," councillor Barry Tebbutt told the Romford Recorder.
The three fuel-cell buses - which ran on liquid hydrogen - have now been dismantled following their trial.
London Mayor Ken Livingstone had pledged to employ 70 hydrogen vehicles in the capital by 2011 - 10 buses and 60 cars and vans. However, the closing of the Hornchurch filling station and the persistently high costs of fuel-cell technology means this now seems unlikely.
BMW has its own hydrogen filling facility in Wembley to fuel its small fleet of experimental 7-series, which use modified V12 petrol engines rather than fuel-cells. The company is currently trialling the cars in the business community.
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