Haydale Graphene Industries plc

('Haydale' or the 'Group')

Haydale to Contribute to the Development of FCHEVs

Haydale, (AIM: HAYD), the global technology solutions company, will be a key contributor to Viritech's development of fuel cell hydrogen electric vehicles (FCHEVs).

Viritech, the leading developer of high-performance hydrogen powertrain solutions for the automotive industry, has secured a major role in Ford Motor Company's ("Ford") three-year hydrogen fuel cell E-Transit trial and Haydale will lead the development of new functionalised materials and resins for Type V pressure vessels to support Viritech's proprietary integrated mounting system Graph-Pro™.

Although not yet commercially available, Type V hydrogen pressure vessels offer the prospect of a significant weight reduction by removing the need for an inner liner, which is currently required in composite pressure vessels to act as an impermeable barrier. Haydale's advanced graphene-enhanced carbon fibre material will enable the construction of impermeable pressure vessels.

The FCVGEN2.0 project awarded to Ford will look to design, develop and build a fleet of eight hydrogen fuel cell powered Transit vans. The project is being funded by The Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC) with £8m awarded by government, matched by industry to a total of £16.3m.

Keith Broadbent, CEO of Haydale, commented:

"Haydale is delighted Viritech is one of the partners in this research project, and we look forward to continuing our collaboration to develop new materials for the Type V pressure vessels. The partnership will play a significant role in bringing UK developed and industry-leading storage solutions to the automotive market."

Timothy Lyons, CEO of Viritech commented:

"This is a massive opportunity and Viritech is excited to be working with Haydale on this next phase of hydrogen technology development. FCHEVs will play a vital role in decarbonising commercial vehicles and, as such, a vital contributor to Sustainable Transportation."

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Notes to Editors

Haydale is a global technologies and materials group that facilitates the integration of graphene and other nanomaterials into the next generation of commercial technologies and industrial materials.  With expertise in graphene, silicon carbide and other nanomaterials, Haydale can deliver improvements in electrical, thermal, and mechanical properties, as well as toughness through its state-of-the-art functionalisation. Haydale has granted patents for its technologies in Europe, USA, Australia, Japan, and China and operates from five sites in the UK, USA, and the Far East.

For more information please visit: www.haydale.com  

LinkedIn: Haydale-ltd

Twitter: @haydalegraphene  

About Viritech

Viritech are passionate cleantech engineers with the goal of becoming the world's leading developer of high-performance hydrogen powertrain solutions.

The company is currently developing hydrogen powertrain solutions for trucks, vans and high-performance cars, and this will be followed by applications for aircraft, marine and off-grid energy.

With an F1-derived engineering culture, focussed on agile innovation and the creation of valuable, licensable IP, Viritech's business model is to design, prototype, test and license its technologies to global OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers. For more information, please visit viritech.co.uk

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