Mocad, a Cork-based company selling a leading brand of electric golf trolley, has developed a new hydrogen fuel cell to power golf trolleys.

Developed in collaboration with Shanghai-based Liyuan Golf, the new fuel cell will replace the traditional electric battery which is prone to running out mid-course.

The new cell converts hydrogen to usable electric power with no toxic emissions.

The Mocad H2 will be launched globally at the US PGA Merchandise Show in the Orange County Convention Centre in Orlando, Florida, USA, next January.

The owners of electric battery Mocads will also be able to convert their trolleys to take the new cell.

Mocad director Michael O’Connell said they had been developed with the new fuel cell in mind.

“Conversion will be a very simple and inexpensive procedure,” he said.

“We expect the development to take the business to a whole new level,” he said.

Representatives of both companies were at City Hall in Cork yesterday to announce the breakthrough.

Xuan Li of Liyuan Golf said the new product has enormous global potential: “Hydrogen is on its way to becoming the world’s next fuel.

“It offers many advantages over traditional fuels, it’s non-toxic, renewable, clean to use and of course is the most abundant element in our universe.”

The collaboration between both companies was helped by the twinning last year of Cork and Shanghai.

Mocad will be one of several Cork companies travelling to Shanghai on a trade delegation later this year.