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Various attempts have been made to develop ‘fuel cell only’ vehicles, and these have highlighted some key limitations of fuel cell technology, namely low levels of efficiency at peak power, no support for regenerative braking and slow response to changing power demands. This paper shows how these problems can be overcome by supporting the fuel cell stack with a Surge Power Unit (SPU), which can reduce hydrogen consumption by up to 45% in urban applications, enhance driveability and lower initial capital costs. Details are given of the European Zero Emission Hybrid (ZEH) project, which features a large urban bus and a long-haul truck drivetrain, and which will demonstrate the major benefits of supporting fuel cells with PowerBeam kinetic energy SPUs.