REDDITCH COMPANY ‘WASTES’ NO TIME SECURING ORDER FOR HYDROGEN REFUSE COLLECTION VEHICLE

A Redditch company has secured an order for its first true Hydrogen Fuel Cellpowered refuse collection vehicle.

FAUN-Zoeller UK, based in Redditch and part of the Kirchhoff Group in Germany, has developed the chassis in collaboration with Daimler AG in Stuttgart.

Simon Hyde, Chief Executive of FAUNZoeller UK, said: “Since 2016 the Group has invested around £15 million in the product which has the performance, manufacturing capability and capacity to provide a robust solution to the challenge of decarbonisation.”

The first customer for the vehicle, the Faun Bluepower, is St Helens Borough Council.

Cllr Andy Bowden, Cabinet Member for Environment and Transport at the council, said: “We are delighted to be leading the way with such a pioneering project that is the first of its kind in the UK. The decarbonisation of our fleet is a key element of our net zero plan, and this investment reinforces our commitment”

The partnership will also see the rollout of a green skills and training programme for the council’s workforce, local colleges and businesses to help them to prepare for the opportunities that new technologies like hydrogen present.

This is a significant step for Simon Hyde, at FAUN-Zoeller, who has been working on the company’s hydrogen vehicle project since 2016.

One of the reasons local authorities haven’t been faster in adopting this new technology is that’s it’s not cheap. Buying new refuse collection vehicles, particularly those that don’t use diesel, can be cost prohibitive.

But with councils being forced to embrace a zero-carbon strategy, Simon says that the initial investment will pay back in the medium and longer term.

“Now is the time to look at why a dust cart goes out at 6am in the morning and comes back at 2pm and stops. Why are councils not sweating the asset? Councils can’t double shift on an electric truck, because they take six hours to power up after a shift. A hydrogen-powered truck takes just seven minutes to fill up so it can be used again for a second shift.”

Worcester Proptech raises £275k to create ‘Airbnb’ for house shares

A Worcester entrepreneur behind a new property management platform has raised £275,000 to establish it as the ‘Airbnb for shared living’.

Vann Vogstad has raised funding from a fund managed by asset management company Mercia and private investors.

COHO was inspired by his experiences of house sharing in Birmingham after leaving university. After building and selling two successful software companies, Vann – now a father of four – decided to address a gap in the market by creating the only platform of its type specifically designed for houses of multiple occupation (HMOs).

COHO aims to accelerate the growing trend for co-living among people of all ages. It allows property investors to manage their portfolio and tenants to find a suitable house share with like-minded people.

Vann joined forces with longterm collaborator Liam Cooper to launch the platform in 2021. They have since signed up more than 80 landlords and lettings agents managing thousands of rooms between them.

The funding will allow the Worcester-based company to further expand the team and develop a host of new features to improve the management of shared living.