An ongoing bid to confirm Swindon’s place as a pioneering location for hydrogen-fuelled transport was at the centre of a futuristic vehicle display held in Lydiard Park.

Organisations from throughout the town came together for the Hydrogen Hub Car Showcase, with some of the town’s biggest employers including Nationwide, The Science Museum and the National Trust displaying their hydrogen fuel cell cars.

The event was hosted by Hydrogen Hub, a company which now operates nationally, but was founded in Swindon last January.

Kevin Fothergill, the chairman of the organisation, explained: “The Hydrogen Hub was set up to encourage the use of hydrogen and cell technologies in Swindon.

“One of the first things we did was to bring in six hydrogen-fuelled vehicles, with a fuelling station to come later in the year [in Lydiard Fields].”

Suggesting that Swindon was likely to be the town with the most hydrogen-powered cars per head in Europe, he added: “There are a relatively small number of the cars in the UK in total. Swindon is a good place really, lots of companies are interested in green technology.”

The cars that the Hub own are hired out through car-leasing firm Arval. Their development manager Paul Marchment said: “We work with the National Trust, Nationwide, the Science Museum [who all lease hydrogen-fuelled cars], Honda and Toyota [who produce them].

“This technology will form part of the future, but we are just trying to understand what that looks like.”

Swindon Borough Council leader David Renard also attended the event. He said: “The council was one of the founder members of the Hydrogen Hub so I am delighted we were able to host today’s event.

“Swindon has been at the forefront of hydrogen fuel technology in the UK and it was really clear today that there is a real passion from our top companies to continue to act as trailblazers when utilising this technology.

“We are currently one of only a handful of places in the country to have a hydrogen refuelling station and plans are in place to add another at Lydiard Fields this autumn.

“At present, there are six hydrogen fuel cell vehicles being used in Swindon, but I was very encouraged to hear that the Hub has an ambition to increase that number to 175, while Arval also outlined its ambition to develop a leasing model for the technology.

Hydrogen fuel cell technology has advantages over the more popular battery-powered electric cars, said Kevin: “They do things that battery cars aren’t so good at – they have a much greater range.

“The car companies are introducing them in a limited way. The technology needs to be proven. We need to develop to mass production to get costs down.

“Battery electric vehicles are very popular, and that technology takes the headlines.

“The downsides [of hydrogen cars] are that there aren’t currently many places to refuel. They are made in small numbers so they are relatively expensive at the minute.”