Multevo, the award-winning nationwide UK highways, civils, and verge maintenance partner, has developed the world’s first Hydrohog – a high performance and multi- purpose highway maintenance machine with ultra-low emissions displacing diesel by up to 40% through dual-fuel diesel/hydrogen technology.
The innovative Hydrohog is capable of undertaking arduous applications such as road planing and snow blowing as well as heavy duty flail mowing and flood water pumping by interchanging attachments within a couple of minutes without the need for any tools.
The quick and adaptable hydrostatic machine can travel at speeds of up to 40kph/h on the road whilst the unit’s high-performance hydraulics deliver up to 120 litres per minute of hydraulic output enabling it to undertake power consuming tasks with ease.
Multevo undertook a vigorous R&D programme to develop a low emission highways maintenance solution for over 18 months with early trials discounting EV technology due to the nature of the applications required on the network before partnering with hydrogen vehicle technology specialist ULEMCo Ltd, as Nick Leadley, Multevo Director explains:
“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 are confident the one machine solution will enable environmentally committed councils and tier one contractors to reduce the amount of specialist plant and vehicles by replacing aging 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 was designed to support the UK’s ‘Road to Zero Strategy’ which sets a target for over 50% of vehicles to be ultra-low emissions by 2030. For more information, please contact Multevo.
