Antares and Yorkshire Ambulance Trust go back a long way together, and whenever YAS have a vehicle electrical challenge, the Fleet Engineering Manager Richard Smith has no hesitation in contacting Antares.


The most recent challenge was to convert a doctor’s car to become a Rapid Response Vehicle (RRV), which meant that it needed to have additional on-board battery charging capability, traditionally provided by a mains powered charger and associated auto-eject plug and socket.
Smith contacted Antares and asked for a kit for the job and was very intrigued when Antares suggested the idea of a fuel cell.

The challenge

How to fit a battery charger that would work anywhere, anytime, automatically and safely?

 These specialist vehicles have an almost unique usage pattern, with no two days being the same: The RRV has to be always available, within 8 minutes of any potential need anywhere within a 6,000 sq mile territory. So they are often parked next to a busy intersection, or at a local GP practice where no mains connection is available.

And the batteries must always be fully charged. For that particular vehicle it’s normal mode of operation is runlock, (where the door is locked but the engine remains on) using many hundreds of gallons of diesel over its life.

So the options are to run the engine, or come up with
something new, and a fuel cell is exactly that.

The Solution

The Antares Fuel Cell (AFC) solution is a complete solution to ensure that that adequate power is supplied to the lights, or to the tetra radio systems, indefinitely, and also re-charge the auxiliary back to the maximum at all times: in an enclosed garage or workshop, or parked at the roadside, and without running the engine.

In addition the vehicle has been fitted with Antares Virtual Alternator, which maximises the battery charging when the vehicle is being driven, thus minimising the run-time of the fuel cell.