Coming soon to a junction near you: the car that ’talks’ to traffic lights as it approaches, helping it to cut fuel consumption.

A similar traffic management system — which enables communication between cars and lights to reduce stop-start engine inefficiency and cut fuel waste — has been trialled in Japan but the latest project, titled Travolution, is being tested much closer to home, at Ingolstadt in Germany.

So it may not be too long before the system is up and running on Britain’s busy town and city streets.

Audi is supporting the Travolution tests, which are aimed at streamlining city traffic flow through interaction between cars and traffic lights.

On-board software in the Audi test cars tells each driver when a light is due to change to green, and calculates the speed that should be maintained in order to pass through in the green phase.

Audi says Travolution can dramatically reduce the number of actual stops needed by creating a communications link between cars and the traffic light network.

A network of 46 of these intelligent traffic lights has been installed in the centre of Ingolstadt.

Modified A5 and A6 Avant models have been provided by Audi as part of the 1.2-million euro pilot project, but here’s the indicator as to how quickly the system could grow — a further 20 cars and 50 light installations will be added to the project fairly soon.

While true motoring enthusiasts may not appreciate this further takeover of driving decisions, few could argue with the cleaner car-energy logic of British firm ITM Power.

ITM chief executive Jim Heathcote is advocating the use of hydrogen to power cars via an electrolyser process from electricity generated through renewable energy sources.

Mr Heathcote said the hydrogen acted as the “buffer storage” for days when there is no wind to drive wind turbines or no sun to recharge solar cells.

“For every wind farm built, there has to be additional conventional power stations to supply electricity for days when there is no wind,” he said.

“Wind is intermittent, and will not bridge the energy gap we are facing. Without energy storage capability for power generated when conditions are good, wind and solar energy are virtually useless.

“This is the vital part of the jigsaw that supporters of clean energy are completely failing to see, and it is tragic. Renewable energy without storage offers no energy security solution, and little in the way of carbon dioxide reduction.

“There’s no point in building 20 new wind farms if you have to simultaneously run back-up power stations in parallel to provide electricity in case the wind drops and the turbines don’t turn.

“But if you can store the excess energy produced when conditions are good, then you have a real clean energy solution. And this is what you have with hydrogen — it’s the vital link.”

Mr Heathcote said that by converting electricity to hydrogen gas through the electrolyser process, the gas could be stored to be used on demand.

Hydrogen can be burnt as a gas in cookers, domestic boilers — and as a fuel for cars, trucks, and vans. It can also be easily converted to electricity by using a generator or fuel cell.

ITM Power is Europe’s largest electrolyser and fuel cell development company, and recently started pilot production of home refuelling stations at its factory in Sheffield, South Yorkshire.

“Buffer storage of hydrogen allows you to use energy when you need it and it’s central to any power grid system,” Mr Heathcote added. “But politicians and even some advocates of clean power seem to be blind to this.

“Large-scale renewable energy systems — wind and solar photovoltaic — should not be deployed until energy storage solutions have been developed.

“We are developing these for solar and, some time in the next few years, it will be scalable to wind. We should go with solar now and leave wind until the storage technology is ready.”

ITM Power demonstrated a Ford Focus that can run on hydrogen at the recent GreenFleet Awards conference in London.