Royal Dutch Shell PLC (LON:RBSD) has opened a hydrogen refuelling station at the Cobham service station on the M25.
The site is first fully branded and public hydrogen refuelling site in the UK, said Shell, which plans to open two more this year.
Matthew Tipper, Vice President, Future Fuels at Shell said: "Hydrogen has the potential to become a clean and versatile transport fuel for the future.
“Cobham will provide customers with hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles the ability to refuel simply and quickly, at one of the largest petrol stations in the UK."
Shell already has hydrogen fuel sites in California and is part of a consortium that will build a network of up to 400 in Germany.
The new station’s hydrogen electrolyser unit was developed by AIM-listed ITM Power plc (LON:ITM) and Graham Cooley, its chief executive, said he was delighted to have helped bring the UK’s first forecourt hydrogen fuelling site to life.
“Electrolytic Hydrogen is the cleanest and lowest cost renewable fuel available for fuel cell electric vehicles.
“We look forward to working with Shell to introduce additional hydrogen stations on their forecourts in the UK in the near future."
Hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles convert hydrogen into electricity and produce only heat and water when driven with a range of up to 700 km without refuelling.
The Shell station is ITM’s fourth in the UK.