Ricardo has a long history of developing diesel drivelines, stemming from its key involvement in the First World War to reduce exhaust emissions (yes, really) that eventually earned founder Harry Ricardo a knighthood.

Today, the British company has a global presence across a range of market sectors – including cars, commercial vehicles, rail, defence, motorsport, energy and environment – with a client list that includes transport operators, manufacturers, energy companies, financial institutions and government agencies.

As a global strategic engineering and environmental consultancy that specialises in the transport, energy and scarce resources sectors, it’s able to look objectively at the progress to new energy for transport as Paul Seller Ricardo Rail MD explains.

Over lunch with Leon Daniels OBE they chat about de-carbonisation not just in Europe, but worldwide and how this can be achieved.

There’s ‘life in the old dog yet’ reckons Paul as they talk about the internal combustion engine (ICE) and he explains why it shouldn’t be written off just yet, as different fuel sources become available.

They chew over the progress to new energy for transport, such as electrification, hydrogen, ammonia and methane, which Paul describes as ‘extremely exciting’. Also, he reckons that it’s ‘not a forgone conclusion’ that hydrogen’s transport role will solely be using fuel cells.

“We have a long way to go to settle on what the transport fuel of the future will be,” he adds as he looks to future of urban transport, what drives it and why it varies around the world. 

He also talks about the impact of Brexit on emissions and transport standards.