SCIENTISTS in Oxfordshire are helping develop a non-polluting fuel for cars which could cost just 19p per litre.

The hydrogen-based fuel created by scientists at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Oxford University, and University College London, is carbon-free and could be on sale in three years.

Prof Stephen Bennington, who is heading the project, said: “In some senses hydrogen is the perfect fuel; it has three times more energy than petrol per unit of weight, and when it burns it produces nothing but water.

“But the only way to pack it into a vehicle is to use very high pressures or very low temperatures, both of which are expensive to do.

He added: “Our new hydrogen storage materials offer real potential for running cars, planes and other vehicles that currently use hydrocarbons on hydrogen, with little extrap cost and no extra inconvenience to the driver.”

The research has been conducted for Cella Energy.

Stephen Voller, company chief executive, said: “Consumers want to be able to travel 300-400 miles before they have to refuel. And when they do have to fill up they want to be able to do it as quickly as possible.

“Existing hydrogen storage methods do not meet these consumer expectations, but the ones we are developing have the potential to do just this.”

Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, part the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, is maintained by the Science and Technology Facilities Council, an independent, non-departmental public body of the Government’s Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.