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The University of Birmingham is the first institution in the county to launch a fleet of hydrogen powered cars. These types of vehicles are pollution free, virtually silent, can travel up to 100 miles on a full tank of hydrogen and at speeds of up to 50 mph.

The cars will utilise hydrogen filling stations, specially designed by an American based company. This includes a integrated compression, hydrogen storage and dispensing system, and can fuel up to 6 cars per day.

The Birmingham hydrogen re-fuelling station is part of a cluster being set up across the region by the British Midlands Hydrogen Forum. Known as the Midlands Hydrogen Ring, the stations will be at the heart of hydrogen fuelling infrastructure planned throughout the region, enabling real life hydrogen vehicle trials. A second station is already operational at Loughborough University and the roll-out of further sites includes vehicle testing centers, an airport, a visitor attraction and eventually the open road.

The British Midlands is also home to the headquarters of the Energy Technologies Institute (ETI), a new $1.8 billion UK national institute established to speed up the deployment of new low-carbon energy technologies and promote international technology collaboration, whilst CENEX, the UK's first National Centre of Excellence for low carbon and fuel cells, is working with the UK automotive supply chain to explore the potential of low carbon technologies.