From a group of old farm buildings in Oxfordshire, one man hopes to change the world’s approach to decarbonising heavy vehicles. In 2022, James Budgett set up a holding company, Metier Ventures, and bought Metier Technologies Ltd, a company which he had established back in 1984, from foreign ownership. With financial support from a business partner, Budgett set the company on a new course: converting diesel trucks to run solely on hydrogen. Although the idea of retrofitting a used vehicle is not an original one, Metier’s proposed business model differs from the usual course of carrying out the conversion work on the diesel engine. Instead, Metier would replace the old engine entirely with a gas engine, fresh off the production line, with a few tweaks and some substitute parts so it will run on hydrogen. With this model, Budgett believes he can offer an attractive and scalable alternative that remains far cheaper than acquiring a brand-new electric vehicle.

The aim of the project is to convert, rather than replace, current engines on the road, which would negate the need for “significant investment in supply chain manufacturing and assembly infrastructure”.

The new facility, which is already in use, incorporates a test chamber and engine dynamometers with nominal capacities of 900 kilowatts and 4,000 Nm.

The new facility, spanning 1,300 square metres, can accommodate every stage of battery development between prototyping and small-scale production, according to Mahle Powertrain.

The company announced a USD4m investment in a new powertrain test facility located at its engineering centre in Michigan, as well as a GBP15m total investment in two test facilities in Northampton, UK.