Hydrogen at work: Ford Transit tipper fixes potholes in Oxfordshire

In the English county of Oxfordshire a notable work van has entered service: a Ford Transit tipper that partly runs on hydrogen and is used to repair potholes. It is said to be the first hydrogen highways maintenance vehicle at a local authority in England. A fine example of hydrogen not in the brochure, but simply at work on the street.

What exactly is driving there?

It is a 3.5-tonne Ford Transit with a tipper body. The vehicle carries maintenance crews and materials to repair jobs spread across around 3,000 miles (almost 4,800 km) of roads in the region. Think of filling potholes and other minor road upkeep.

Hydrogen plus HVO: how does that work?

The van has been converted into a dual-fuel vehicle: it runs on a combination of hydrogen and HVO, a renewable diesel substitute based on vegetable oils. Depending on how heavily the vehicle is loaded, hydrogen provides 30 to 70% of the energy. So this is not a fuel cell, but a combustion engine that co-combusts hydrogen.

Who is behind it?

The trial is a collaboration between Oxfordshire County Council and highways contractor M Group, which operates around 10,000 vehicles across the UK. For M Group this is its very first hydrogen vehicle. The conversion was carried out by ULEMCo, a specialist in converting existing vehicles to hydrogen dual-fuel.

What it delivers

To be fair: this is not a zero-emission vehicle. But tailpipe CO2 emissions fall by 30 to 40% on average compared with diesel, plus a reduction in nitrogen oxides (NOx). For a heavy work van that runs a lot, that is a substantial, immediate gain.

Smart: convert rather than buy new

The appealing part of this approach is that no new vehicle is needed. An existing, familiar Ford Transit is converted, making the switch faster and cheaper. In this way a fleet can be cleaned up step by step, without replacing everything at once.

Refuelling and what comes next

Refuelling is done via a mobile HyQube refueller from Fuel Cell Systems, which handles both 350 and 700 bar. The trial has been running since July 2026 and measures things like driver experience, running costs and fuel consumption. In early 2027 a second, larger vehicle is to be added. Council cabinet member Liz Leffman links it to the county's goal of being net zero by 2030.

Why this is interesting

Projects like this show that hydrogen is already usable in practice today, especially for heavy, frequently used equipment that is hard to fully electrify. Alongside battery-electric, hydrogen thus offers an extra, pragmatic route to cut emissions from municipal fleets — and it starts with concrete jobs, such as a hole in the road.

Sources

• Hymotive – "New hydrogen Ford Transit tipper fixes potholes in Oxfordshire" (10 July 2026)
• Fuel Cells Works – "Oxfordshire introduces first dual fuel hydrogen highways maintenance vehicle" (9 July 2026)
• Fleet News – "Dual-fuel hydrogen highways maintenance vehicle joins fleet" (2026)
• ULEMCo – Hydrogen Dual Fuel (company information)