Restorative Business Models for the Automotive Sector and Beyond – Developing a predictive maintenance industrial symbiosis

With the rapidly developing market for hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles comes the opportunity to embed Circular Economy practices in the design, manufacture, use and end-of-life treatment of these vehicles, reducing demand for valuable finite resources. In a collaboration between Coventry University, Aston University, Microcab Industries and Oakdene Hollins, this project will apply an industrial symbiosis model to the critical supply chain of hydrogen fuel cells, seeking to develop a restorative business model that utilises new data-driven approaches to monitor the health and usage of fuel cells. The project is funded through the UK Manufacturing Symbiosis Network+.

Coventry University, automotive innovators Microcab, Aston University, and the circular economy consultants Oakdene Hollins are carrying out research into the possibility of hydrogen fuels cells having second lives in different industries, when they are no longer viable for use in the automotive sector.