Multevo has leapt into a leading position in the battle to 'green' the highways fleet after it unveiled a new, multi-purpose machine 'replacing diesel by up to 40% through dual-fuel diesel/hydrogen technology'.
The innovative Hydrohog is capable of undertaking heavy duty applications such as road planing and snow blowing as well as flail mowing and flood water pumping.
The adaptable hydrostatic machine can take on different attachments within a couple of minutes without the need for any tools and it can travel at speeds of up to 40kph/h on
The unit’s high-performance hydraulics also deliver up to 120 litres per minute of hydraulic output.
Multevo - which is now an award-winning nationwide UK highways, civils, and verge maintenance partner - undertook an extensive R&D programme for over 18 months with early trials discounting EV technology due to the nature of the applications required on the network.
The company eventually partnered with hydrogen vehicle technology specialist ULEMCo Ltd to develop the Hydrohog.
Nick Leadley, Multevo Director said: 'We were determined to create a solution that would bring about a reduction in emissions without being impeded by a loss of performance.
'It was clear early on, electric options had too many limitations for heavy duty highways applications. Based on our investigations, during road planing operations for instance, the engine/throttle is fully engaged 75% of the time. This creates problems with existing battery technology.
'The innovative H2ICED dual-fuel system injects hydrogen into the existing diesel combustion engine to displace up to 40% of diesel fuel and make a significant contribution to CO2 savings and reduced city pollution in real world applications.'
Multevo said this one machine will enable councils and tier one contractors to reduce the amount of specialist plant and vehicles by replacing ageing fleets with a more versatile and efficient approach to traditional highways plant.
Josh Sweeney, Director of Marketing and Growth at Multevo concludes: 'Councils are being tasked with doing more with less, but service delivery expectations remain high; especially around pothole and patching repairs – we believe this machine can replace several vehicles, which incurs savings on maintenance and sustainability whilst actually improving operational performance against the kit it replaces.
'This is a significant innovation for the Highways Industry which enables organisations to deliver real-time emission savings within practical highways applications to increase efficiency and productivity as a result of the Hydrohog’s unique high performance, low emission innovation.'
The Hydrohog has been released as National Highways’ net zero carbon plan aims for maintenance and construction activities on its network to be net-zero by 2040. It also includes an earlier target - by 2030 the government-owned company will only have zero carbon plant on its sites.
Multevo said its new machine was designed to support the wider target of making 50% of vehicles to be ultra-low emissions by 2030.
